Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade by Roxani Eleni Margariti

Author:Roxani Eleni Margariti [Margariti, Roxani Eleni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Middle East, General, Social Science, Islamic Studies, Europe, Medieval
ISBN: 9781469606712
Google: wvZl0JnEyVsC
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 2012-09-01T16:03:34+00:00

Business Routines

Focusing on the career and status of mercantile representatives in Maḍmūn’s direct line runs the risk of ignoring the role of other men who were not nagidim but were simply well-respected local merchants performing the basic tasks of a wakīl al-tujjār. Two members of the Bundār clan, Khalaf b. Isaac and Joseph b. Abraham, as well as others of whom the sources provide only fleeting glimpses performed all the routine services associated with mercantile representation; they, too, played a significant role in the smooth operation of trading ventures. Their careers are, in fact, most illuminating for the study of mercantile representation in Aden, permitting the distinguishing of the functions of the institution from the added layer of communal and state involvement that Maḍmūn and his descendants brought into the picture.

What routine services could a merchant expect from any mercantile representative in Aden, whether that representative was Maḍmūn or his cousin, Khalaf? A document written by Khalaf and addressed to a well-known merchant and notable, Ḥalfon b. Nathanel, graphically reveals the many ways in which the Adeni merchant managed Ḥalfon’s affairs in Aden while he traveled in India.56 Khalaf’s account (ḥisāb) maintained on Ḥalfon’s behalf starts with credits for merchandise that Ḥalfon had sent to be sold in Aden, including various textiles, pepper, and musk, listing their value and a grand total in Ḥalfon’s favor.57 Khalaf then enumerated various deductions, including

• import taxes on some but not all of the merchandise58 (indicating that Khalaf sold only part of the goods and paid taxes from the proceeds);

• cost of silver (vessels), gold coins, and coral59 (Khalaf must have bought these on Ḥalfon’s behalf, probably to send to him in India);

• rent for a storeroom and the cost of furnishing it with mats (furush)60 (indicating that Khalaf stored some of the goods);

• the cost of airing and brushing (sirqa) two types of cloth included on the credits list but not on the tax deductions list61 (items imported but not sold and therefore taxed but instead stored in the rented space; before storage, bales of clothes and fabrics that had traveled across the sea in a damp hold needed to be unwrapped and aired individually).

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