Page 23 - Journal of the Cenral Asian Society (1960)

210 risen ei. I«1 PERSIAN (iUl.r AND ITS JEWISH SETTLEMENTS
and played a role as guides, interpreters, and advisors to the Por­
tuguese explorers and administrators in the Orient. It is known
that d'Albuquerque* himself had several Jews as interpreters
in his service, one of them, Alexander d'Atavde, an excellent
linguist, called Hucefe of C'astilia after his conversion to Christi­
anity, became an intimate friend and confidential adviser of 3*
d'Albuquerque and participated actively in the capture and sur­
render of Ormuz. Portuguese sources rc|>ort other Jewish ad­
visers who were sent to Ormuz with ini|>ortnut assignments in
the interest of the state.”
These Portuguesc-Jewish individuals, however, can hardly be
regarded as permanent residents of Ormuz or of any other place
along the Persian Gulf, and though the Portuguese penetration
into the waters of the Persian Gulf made this region most
attractive for the merchants of Europe and Asia, a much more
3
potent factor seems to account for the appearance and promi­
nence of Jewish settlements in the region of the Persian Gulf
from that period on.
4
Jews under the Sai avid Dynasty
It seems, namely, that it was the transformation of Persia
under Shah Abbas I that was resjxjnsible for the renewed Jewish
association with that region. As generally known, with the Arab
conquest of Persia in 641, Persia ceased lo be an independent
country and became a province within the great empire of the
IJmayyad and Abbasid Caliphs. Despite several attempts to
regain independence for Persia, only some parts of the once great
Sassanian empire could reconstitute their life temporarily , on a
national, independent basis. Even the Mongol conquest of
Persia and Hulagu’s destruction of Baghdad and the Abbasid
Caliphate in 1258 made Persia only another province, now of
the great 11-Khan empire, into which it was incorporated.
'* Sex: M. Kayserling: Christopher Columbus and the Part it i potion of Javs
in the Spanish and Portuguese Discmeries, Now York 1894, pp. 18-19, 120-121;
It. S. Whiteway: The Pise of Portuguese Power in India, Westminster 1899,
p. 53—57. E. Prcslage: The Portuguese Pioneers, Loudon 19.1.?, p. 218.
:
/
li
211
With the rise of the Safavid Dynasty at the l>eginning of the
16th century (1501), however, the |>olitieal status of Persia was
fundamentally changed. It was under this new dynasty that
Persia attained again a |>osition of independence, power, and
glory, which it had not enjoyed since the destruction of the
Sassanid empire more than eight centuries earlier.1*
Shah Abbas I f 1587-1629), the most outstanding of the
Safavid rulers, introduced far-reaching reforms not only in order
to destroy the theoretic basis of the State which his predecessors
had built up. not only to crush its ancient tribal feudalism and
free Persia from the fetters of its all too |>owerful Shia clergy,
but also to break the political and economic isolation of Persia.n
Shah Abbas 1, realizing that the most urgent requirement for
Persia was increased population and economic lies with the
outside world, changed the policy of the state towards non-
Muslims and foreigners fundamentally. Far from being as
antagonistic as his predecessors" were toward (Europeans and
'• For general reference consult: G. Curzon: Persia and the Persian Question,
London 1892: I*. M. Svkes: .1 History of Persia, London 1921: E. G. bromic:
.1 Literary History of Persian Literature, London 1906 IT.
n The period of the Safavid rule over Persia is still in many ways obscure
and unexplored. The *s»cial and economic Ivirkground of the Safavid -cue
and its organization has been investigated for the lirst time fundamentally by
V. Minor>ky in his brilliant introduction to Tadhkirat al-Muluk, .1 Manual
of .Safavid Administration, Facsimile with Translation ami Commentary, in
E. J. IP. Cibb Memorial n. >., London 194.?. Yol. \ I.
" The founder of the dynasty, Shah Nmacl I (1502-1521) brought .iImuii
along with the national rehabilitation of Persia a religious change of far-
reaching con>cqucnccs by his introduction of Shi'a Islam as official 'tale
religion of Persia. One of the chief results of the Shi'a revival was the over­
whelming influence of the clergy over all affairs of the State. The intolerant
and fanatical attitude against foreigners and non-Muslims, based on the
conception of their ritual uncleanliness affected Sunni Moslems not less than
Europeans. Christians. Zoroasirians ami Jews in Persia. Typical for the spirit
of that early period of the Safavid rule is the following: The English traveler
and merchant, Anthony Jenkinson. came to Persia in 1561 equipped with
letters of credential from Queen Elizabeth of England in order to establish
commercial relations between England and Persia. Shah Tahmasp (1524-
1576) refused lo have any dealings with European Christian nations and
demanded the immediate removal of Jenkinson from the soil of Persia which
he had contaminated. (See Anth. Jenkinson: Early Voyages and Travels to