ABSTRACT
This chapter opens by analysing long-distance trade between Muscovy and its neighbouring states as conducted by Armenian merchant networks from Poland, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia. It then explores attitudes towards Armenians in Muscovy, in particular, legal aspects of trade and formal and informal support received by merchants from Russian authorities. Moreover, it examines the question of Armenian accommodation in Russian cities. To conclude, it focuses on the religious restrictions experienced by Armenian merchants in Muscovy. In Muslim countries, caravanserais/khans were founded for merchants and travellers and were closely linked to the idea of religious charity. Fondacos for European merchants in the Muslim Mediterranean were given a certain degree of legal and religious autonomy, having a consul and chapel. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Muscovy saw two phases of guesthouses for foreigners, with the earlier ambassadorial courtyards in Moscow gradually replaced by guesthouses – gostinye dvory. In Moscow, the capital of the Orthodox tsardom, foreign merchants were not allowed to have religious buildings in their guesthouses. In late seventeenth-century Astrakhan´, earlier guesthouses of the fondaco type were later replaced with a regular guesthouse that was equivalent to the Middle Eastern khan. In both cities the guesthouses were established by the government for economic reasons.
