Settlements Armenians_in_India
several centuries of presence of armenians, described merchant princes of india , resulted in emergence of number of several large , small armenian settlements in several places in india, including agra, surat, mumbai, kanpur, chinsurah, chandernagore, calcutta, saidabad, suburb of murshidabad, chennai, gwalior, lucknow, , several other locations in republic of india. lahore , dhaka – respectively in pakistan , bangladesh, – but, earlier part of undivided india, , kabul, capital of afghanistan, had armenian population. there many armenians in burma , southeast asia.
akbar (1556–1605), mughal emperor, invited armenians settle in agra in 16th century, , middle of 19th century, agra had sizeable armenian population. imperial decree, armenian merchants exempted paying taxes on merchandise imported , exported them, , allowed move around in areas of mughal empire entry of foreigners otherwise prohibited. however, armenians, recognized emperors innovative skills, earned exceptional status in india. in 1562, armenian church constructed in agra.
during 16th century onwards, armenians (mostly persia) formed important trading community in surat, active indian port of period, located on western coast of india. port city of surat used have regular sea borne , fro traffic of merchant vessels basra , bandar abbas. armenians of surat built 2 churches , cemetery there, , tombstone (of 1579) in surat bears armenian inscriptions. second church built in 1778 , dedicated mary. manuscript written in armenian language in 1678 (currently preserved in saltikov-shchedrin library, st. petersburg) has account of permanent colony of armenians in surat.
the armenians settled in chinsurah, near calcutta, west bengal, , in 1697 built church there. second oldest church in bengal , still in preserved on account of care of calcutta armenian church committee.
during period of mughal emperor aurangzeb, decree issued allowed armenians form settlement in saidabad, suburb of murshidabad, capital of mughal suba (province) of bengal. imperial decree had reduced tax 5% 3.5% on 2 major items traded them, namely piece goods , raw silk. decree further stipulated estate of deceased armenians pass on armenian community. middle of 18th century, armenians had become active, vibrant merchant community of bengal. in 1758, armenians had built church of virgin mary in saidabad’s khan market.
^ julfa v. armenians in india
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