Page 19 - Journal of the Cenral Asian Society (1960)

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218 FISCIIKI. [16|
With the shifting of the economic center from the island of
Ormuz to the mainland. Bander Abbas, formerly called Gambrou
or Gambroon, became the seat of a Jewish settlement. Created
by Shah Abbas I in 1622 in order to divert trade from Ormuz to
the mainland of Persia and to foster the trade within Persia,
Bander Abbas was destined to play a prominent role in inter­
national trade. It became the principal foothold of the English
and Dutch East India Companies, which received there special
privileges from the Shah. European visitors during the 17th
century mention repeatedly the presence of Jews in Bander
Abbas. Chardin.3’ the French traveler, counted "some fifty
Jewish houses" in Bander Abbas. And the Judaeo-Persian
chronicler. Babai ibn Lutf. presents Bander Abbas as a consider­
able Jewish community.40
The city of Lar, though not on the shores of the Persian Gulf
but in its immediate vicinity, was another important seat of
Jewish settlement. Lar was situated on the main caravan route
which connected southern Persia with Bandar Abbas and other
ports of the Persian Gulf and can be regarded as belonging
economically and politically to the area of the Gulf. Lar is not
mentioned by any of the earlier Arab geographers. Only in the
14th century the Persian geographer Mustawfi refers to Lar as
the name of a district by the sea, whose population consisted
mainly of merchants who were given to sea voyages. It became a
mint city under the Timurid rulers, thus indicating that it was
then a place of some size and importance. The Khan of Lar was
once paramount to the kings of Ormuz, but during the period
of Portuguese supremacy this position became reversed. W ith the
conquest of Ormuz by d’Albuquerque, the tribute from Ormuz to
Lar had been suspended, but now the ruler of Lar advanced his
claim for arrears.41
Lar must have had a Jewish community already in the 16th
century, and in view of its commercial prominence seems to
have attracted Jewish settlers from other parts of Persia. One
J* r<micfj .. . Amsterdam, Vol. Ill, p. 224.
4* See \Y. Bacher: l.cs Juifs dr la Per ft... I. c. pp. 46-50; pp. 78, 88.
11 See G. Le Strange: The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge 1905,
p. 291; L. Lockhart: Xadir Shah, London 19J8. p. 6; Y. Minorsky I. c. p. 17 note. don 1928. pp. 54, 60. See his remarks mi Jews of Juhrun in the vieinitv of
[17| I'KKSI.NN (iUI.K AND ITS JKWISII SKTTI.I- MFNTS 219
of the first documentary evidences of the presence of the Jewish
community in Lar is supplied again by a Portuguese traveler of
Jewish origin, Antonio Tenreiro (1560). Tenreiro, the first Euro­
pean to cross the desert from Aleppo to Basra, who rightly can
be regarded as one of the earliest of a long line of Spanish and
Portuguese travelers who visited Persia, Mesopotamia, and other
lands in an official diplomatic capacity, has given considerable
attention to the Jewish life in most of the places visited by him.
His "Itinerario" furnishes us with very valuable details. He
refers to "Judeus Arabios" in Basra, to "Mercadores Venecianos
Judeus", to "Judeus Hespanol que era fisico of Abraham Baxa
(Pasha)". Nor did he fail to notice the presence of Jews in Lar.
about whom he had to say. "Habitao nesta cidade alguna J udeus
Persianos gente |>obre naturaes de mesme terra".44
Another early Euroj>ean source which attests to the existence
of Jews in Lar is the report of John Newbury, a London citizen,
the first Englishman to visit Ormuz (1579). After his visit to
Ormuz, Newbury traveled along the coast of the Persian Gulf,
disembarking at Gombroon (the later Bander Abbas), and then
proceeded to Lar (1581). It was here that he engaged a local
Jew as his servant and interpreter, who travelled with him the
road to Shiras and Isfahan. In his own words he states, "The
* fifteenth day I hired (in Lar) Mousa. a Jew. for six months to
7
3 be my servant for 30 Iarins the month ..." This Jew Mousa was
undoubtedly a resident member of the community of Lar.43
In the 17th century, Lar had become one of the leading commu­
nities in Persia, and many European travelers refer to its Jewish
inhabitants. Figueroa (1617) visited them in their quarter.44
Thomas Herbert (1628) was not too much impressed by them
and condemned the violent heat and the diseases among them.4'
44 A. Tenreiro: Itinerario, Lisbon 1560; new cd. hv A. Hairo 1923, p. 360.
N’o translation seems to be available of that travel l>ook.
,J About him see Purchas. 11is Pilgrims, Yul. VIII. p. 640; \Y. Foster:
England's (Juest for Eastern Trade, London 1933, p. 84; S. C. Chew: The
Crescent and the Pose, New York 1037. pp. 205-223.
44 L'Ambassude .... 1. c. pp. 75-76.
41 Travels of Sir Thomas Herbert ed. \Y. Foster (Broadway Traveler) Lon­