Jean-Baptiste Tavernier ( French: Jean-Baptiste Tavernier ; 1605 , Paris - 1689 , Moscow ) - a French merchant who held in his hands the European diamond trade with India . On commercial matters, he made five trips to India, breaking more than 240,000 km on his way.
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Biography
Tavernier was born in Paris in a family of Protestant merchants from Antwerp . By the age of 16, he had already traveled on trade matters adjacent to France. Having entered the service of the imperial governor of Hungary , the young Tavernier was present during the fighting against the Turks. Then he served in the service of the Mantuan dukes from the house of Gonzaga .
In 1630, Tavernier decided to see the East, for which, in the company of three missionaries, sailed towards Istanbul . He drove through Erzrum and Baku to Isfahan , from where through Baghdad and Aleppo in 1633 he returned to Paris. Upon his return, he probably entered the service of Gaston of Orleans .
In September 1638, Tavernier again set off for the East. Having reached Persia , he drove further east to India, where he visited the courtyard of Shah Jahan in Agra and the Golconda, famous for its diamond mines. Tavernier bought diamonds from local princes in order to resell them with significant profit in Europe. It was he who brought the famous French blue diamond to Europe.
Subsequently, he visited four times in India with the aim of buying up precious stones: in 1651-1655, 1657-1662, 1664-1668. The most famous of these trips is the second, during which he reached the shores of Java , and returned to Europe, rounding the Cape of Good Hope . His trading partners during this period were the Dutch .
The trading and intermediary activities of the Tavernier were very profitable. He was introduced to Louis XIV , elevated to the noble rank and acquired the title of baron with accumulated funds. Having married the daughter of a Parisian jeweler, Tavernier departed from wanderings and set about writing memoirs containing, among other things, descriptions of Japan and Vietnam from the recollections of his brother and other travelers.
Over the course of forty years, Tavernier made six trips to Turkey, Persia and India (different routes through Moscow and the Caucasus), while he always made detailed notes about local customs, religion, government and trade, paying particular attention to weight and monetary appeal. These notes are valuable material for the study of history and ethnography [5] .
At the end of his life, the 83-year-old merchant, for reasons that still cause controversy among historians, left Paris for Copenhagen , intending to travel to Persia from there. He died passing through Moscow, and apparently was buried there.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 BNF identifier : Open Data Platform 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 Digital Library for Dutch Literature - 1999.
- ↑ National Library of Australia - 1960.
- ↑ German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 117248339 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ [Sekunov Kh. Kh., Sekunova I. Kh. Cherkeshenka. Maykop 1994. C. C-895]
Digitized Tavernier Books
- Les Six Voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier, écuyer baron d'Aubonne, qu'il a fait en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes, pendant l'espace de quarante ans, & par toutes les routes que l'on peut tenir: accompagnez d'observations particulieres sur la qualité, la religion, le gouvernement, les coutumes & le commerce de chaque païs; avec les figures, le poids, & la valeur de monnoyes qui y ont court , Gervais Clouzier, Paris, 1676 Texte en ligne 1 2 Illustrations en ligne 1 2
- Recueil de plusieurs relations et traitez singuliers et curieux de JB Tavernier, chevalier, baron d'Aubonne. Qui n'ont point esté mis dans ses six premiers voyages. Divisé en cinq parties. Avec la relation de l'intérieur du serrail du Grand Seigneur suivant la copie imprimée à Paris, Genève , Club des libraires de France, Le cercle du bibliophile, 1970. Texte en ligne Illustrations en ligne