the disintegration of the empire 119
the same tenacious will that led the genoese from the northern shores
of the Black sea to the depths of the asian continent also drove them to
seek profit from the route they had opened on the other side of the Black
sea. the earliest clear proof of genoese merchants using the trebizond-
tabriz route258 comes from a commercial contract signed at caffa in
august 1289, which stipulates that a certain sum of money is to be repaid
at tabriz:259 the parties to the contract would certainly have intended
to take the trebizond route, rather than the enormous detour via ayas.260
this assumption is strengthened by a similar document, notarised at
genoa in July 1292, whereby a particular payment is to be made either at
trebizond or at tabriz.261 even more conclusive are further documents
from the same year, which hint at the quantities involved: for the first
time, they mention caravans with genoese participants.262
the chief continental destination from trebizond was tabriz, famous
for the wealth and astonishing variety of products brought from all corners
of the world, and its reputation attracted merchants from east and West.263
among these, at least in arghun’s time, the genoese held a unique place
for their economic influence and political importance. although the ori-
gins of the colony cannot be unriddled from contemporary sources, a well-
organised genoese community was clearly active in mongol-ruled persia
in the 1280s, since only from among their number could arghun have
recruited those trusted emissaries whom he sent to the West from 1285
back “ohne Zweifel” to the beginning of the thirteenth century! on the origin and develop-
ment of the colony, cf. heyd, Histoire, ii, pp. 95–96 and Karpov, Impero, pp. 141 ff. Bryer,
“fate,” pp. 348–349 draws attention to the fact that from the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to
the last decade of that century, trebizond was not an attractive destination for italian
merchants, while papacostea, “gênes,” p. 224 note 44, suggests that the choice of trebi-
zond may have been dictated by Benedetto Zaccaria’s defeat at tripoli; cf also ciocîltan,
“genoa,” p. 305.
258 We may assume that numerous embassies, beginning with that of arghun to the
rulers of Western europe in 1286, took the same route from the Black sea.
259 Brătianu, Actes, p. 257; see also the document of 11th may 1290 (ibid., pp. 286–287).
260 it is instructive to compare this with similar documents from 1280, when the usual
route to the persian trading city still ran via ayas and sivas (Brătianu, Recherches, pp. 314–
315, petech, “marchands,” pp. 560–561).
261 Brătianu, Recherches, p. 322.
262 ibid., pp. 179, 320, 322: caterve. caravan traffic on this route increased significantly in the
following period, so that it was the subject of detailed regulations by the office of the gazaria
(forcheri, Navi, pp. 14–17, papacostea, “gênes,” pp. 222, 225 and below, p. 183 note 152).
263 the first mention of a Western merchant is of a venetian in 1264, and then in 1280
genoese merchants are documented in sivas, whence they intend to travel onward to
tabriz (petech, “marchands,” pp. 560–561); for a survey of the rather rarer visits by mer-
chants from other italian cities (pisa, florence, siena), ibid., pp. 565–567; cf. also heyd,
Histoire, ii, p. 110.