New Julfa

New Julfa
Նոր Ջուղա
Courtyard of the Holy Savior Cathedral, and the Museum of Khachatur Kesaratsi
Courtyard of the Holy Savior Cathedral, and the Museum of Khachatur Kesaratsi
Interactive map of New Julfa
Coordinates: 32°38′10.79″N 51°39′20.55″E / 32.6363306°N 51.6557083°E / 32.6363306; 51.6557083
CountryIran
ProvinceIsfahan Province
CountiesIsfahan County
CityIsfahan
DistrictDistrict 5 (Isfahan)
Settledearly 17th century

New Julfa (Persian: نو جلفا, Now Jolfā, or جلفای نو, Jolfâ-ye Now; Armenian: Նոր Ջուղա, Nor Jugha) is the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran, located along the south bank of the Zayanderud.

Established and named after the older city of Julfa in the early 17th century (now divided as Jolfa, Iran and Julfa, Azerbaijan), it is still one of the oldest and largest Armenian quarters in the world (hy).

History

Map of New Julfa (planimetry)
Map of New Julfa and Isfahan
View of New Julfa

New Julfa was established in 1606 as an Armenian quarter by the mandate of Abbas the Great, shah of Safavid Iran. Over 150,000 Armenians were forcibly moved there from Julfa (also known as Jugha or Juła, and now as Old Julfa) (hy) (hy). Iranian sources state that the Armenians came to Iran fleeing the Ottoman Empire's persecution. Nevertheless, historical records indicate that the residents of Julfa were treated well by Shah Abbas in the hopes that their resettlement in Isfahan would benefit Iran due to their knowledge of the silk trade. Beginning in the early 1600s, New Julfa became home to a very small community of merchants and artisans as well as to a small group of Catholic missionary priests who served the Christian community. Among the residents of New Julfa was the Geneva clockmaker, Jacques Rousseau (1683-1753), who was the uncle of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).

Armenian Stamp commemorating 400th anniversary of the Armenian aettlement of New Julfa

The New Julfa dialect (hy) (hy) is a distinct form of Eastern Armenian spoken largely in Iran and Southern California. "This variety or lect is called “Persian Armenian” [pɒɻskɒhɒjeɻen] or “Iranian Armenian” [iɻɒnɒhɒjeɻen] by members of the community."

New Julfa is still an Armenian-populated area with an Armenian school and sixteen churches, including Vank Cathedral. Armenians in New Julfa observe Iranian law concerning clothing, but retain a distinct Armenian language, identity, cuisine, and culture, which the Iranian government protects.

Origins and Trade

Since its foundation, New Julfa was administered by the Armenian noble house of Lazaryan, which relocated to Imperial Russia after Nader Shah's death in 1747. One of its members, Ivan Lazarevich Lazarev, became a court banker to Catherine the Great and was made an Imperial Count in 1788. His brother established the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow.

In 1947, the historian Fernand Braudel wrote that the Armenians had a trade network that stretched from Amsterdam to Manila in the Philippines. Many scholars in Armenia have done pioneering work on this network in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Levon Khachikyan and Sushanik Khachikyan have edited and published several New Julfan account books. Over the next few centuries, New Julfa became the hub of "one of the greatest trade networks of the early modern era," and as far west as Cádiz, London, and Amsterdam, with a few merchants traveling across the Atlantic or Pacific to Acapulco or Mexico City.

An old photograph of Vank Cathedral from the 1930s

A significant majority of Armenian trading families were based in New Julfa (hy). Due to their dispersal, many families that were originally from the older city of Julfa created a main settlement in Bengal expanding the trade network based in New Julfa. However, Some scholars argue that Surat, Bengal, and Hooghly were independent nodes and that the central control of New Julfa was not as important to their thriving Indian Ocean trade. Many New Julfan Armenians later settled in Manila, Hong Kong, and also in Australia. Their networks have been studied based on Armenian sources. Some also settled in Singapore, where Armenians from New Julfa became the mainstay of the Armenian community in the country. Most were traders, but perhaps better known were the Sarkies Brothers, who founded Singapore's Raffles Hotel in 1887.

A Christmas shop in New Julfa

According to David Petrosyan of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, New Julfa had 10,000–12,000 Armenian inhabitants in 1998. As of today, it is still one of the world's largest ethnic Armenian quarters.

Sites

Churches

Holy Savior Cathedral, New Julfa
Ceiling of the Holy Savior Cathedral

Armenian Apostolic

Roman Catholic

Protestant

Museums

Museum of Khachatur Kesaratsi

Schools

Historic Houses

Martha Peters House

Fire Temple

Notable people

The statues at the entrance of the Museum of Khachatur Kesaratsi
Statue of Khachatur Kesaratsi, founder of the first publishing house in Iran
Statue of Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet

Friendly cities

New Julfa has friendly relations with:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sushil Chaudhuri and Kéram Kévonian eds., Les Arméniens dans le commerce asiatique au début de l’ere moderne [Armenians in Asian trade in the Early Modern Era], (Paris, 2007).
  2. 1 2 3 McCabe, Ina Baghdiantz (1999). The Shah's Silk for Europe's Silver: The Eurasian Trade of the Julfa Armenians in Safavid Iran and India (1530-1750). Scholars Press. ISBN 978-0-7885-0571-3.
  3. ↑ Windler, Christian (2024). Missionaries in Persia: Cultural Diversity and Competing Norms in Global Catholicism. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 169, 171–5, 202. ISBN 978-0-7556-4936-5.
  4. ↑ Dolatian, Hossep; Sharifzadeh, Afsheen; Vaux, Bert (2023). A grammar of Iranian Armenian: Parskahayeren or Iranahayeren. Berlin: Language Science Press. p. 1.
  5. ↑ Vasgen Ghougassian The Emergence of the Diocese of New Julfa in the Seventeenth Century, Atlanta, University of Pennsylvania Series), 1998.
  6. ↑ "ЛАЗАРЕВЫ • Большая российская энциклопедия - электронная версия". Archived from the original on 2021-06-13. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  7. ↑ Aslanian, Sebouh (2008). ""The Salt in a Merchant's Letter": The Culture of Julfan Correspondence in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean". Journal of World History. 19 (2): 127–188. doi:10.1353/jwh.0.0014.
  8. ↑ Mesrob Jacob Seth, an Armenian historian
  9. ↑ Bhattacharya, Bhaswatti “Making Money at the Blessed Place of Manilla: Armenians in the Madras-Manila Trade in the Eighteenth Century.” Journal of Global History, (2008),3, 1-20.
  10. ↑ Petrosyan, David (1998). Армянская община в Иране (in Russian). Institute for Central Asian and Caucasian Studies. Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2015-11-08. ...еще 10-12 тысяч - в Исфагане (армяне называют его Новой Джугой)...
  11. ↑ "Ispahan/Quartier de la Nouvelle-Jolfâ (Iran)". Retrieved 17 February 2021.

Sources