The Armenian Merchant Network: From Silk Road to Global Diaspora Revisited

This episode revisits the Armenian merchant network, focusing on the role of the Mkhitarist Catholic Congregation in preserving Armenian identity and culture through scholarship and printing. We explore how the Mkhitarist monks, based first in Venice and later in Vienna, became custodians of Armenian language, history, and manuscripts, producing the first modern Armenian dictionaries and histories. Their work connected the scattered Armenian communities of the diaspora, reinforcing the merchant network's cultural and intellectual foundations. The episode also touches on the tension between the commercial pragmatism of the Julfan merchants and the scholarly piety of the Mkhitarists, illustrating how both strands were essential to Armenian survival. #Armenia #Mkhitarists #Venice #Vienna #SanLazzaro #MkhitarSebastatsi #ArmenianDiaspora #Manuscripts #Printing #Scholarship #Catholic #Monks #Identity #CulturalPreservation #NewJulfa #SilkRoad #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo