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The Radhanites (also Radanites, Arabic ar-Radhaniyya) were a medieval group or guild of Jewish merchants. They dominated trade between the Christian and Muslim worlds during the Early Middle Ages (approx. 600-1000 CE). Trade routes established under the Roman Empire stayed open during that period largely through their efforts.

Etymology

Several etymologies have been suggested for the word "Radhanite". Many scholars, including Moshe Gil, believe it refers to a district in Mesopotamia. Others maintain that their center was the city of Rayy (Rhages) in northern Persia; others make the same claim about the Rhône River valley in France, which is Rhodanus in Latin. Still others maintain that it derives from the Persian terms raH (Persian for 'way/path') and daan "one who knows", meaning "one knows the way". English-language (or Western) sources added the suffix -ite to the term, as is done with ethnonyms or names derived from placenames.

Activities

Abu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh, the Director of Posts and Police (spymaster/postman) for the province of Jibal under the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutammid (r.869-885 CE), wrote al-Qitab al Masalik w’al Mamalik ("The Book of Roads and Kingdoms"), probably around 870.

Ibn Khordadbeh described the Radhanites as sophisticated and multilingual. He outlined four main trade routes utilized by the Radhanites in their journeys. All four began in the Rhône Valley of France and terminated in China.

The commodities carried by the Radhanites were primarily those which combined small bulk and high demand, including spices, perfumes, jewelry, and silk. They are also described as transporting oils, incense, steel weapons, furs, and slaves.

The text of Ibn Khordadbeh's account

"These merchants speak Persian, Roman (Greek), Arabic, the language of the Franks, Spanish, and Slav. They journey from west to east, from east to west, partly on land, partly by sea. They transport from the West eunuchs, female slaves, boys, silk, castor, marten and other furs, and swords. They take ship in the land of the Franks, on the Western Sea, and steer for Farama (Pelusium). There they load their goods on the backs of camels and go by land to Kolzum (Suez) in five days' journey over a distance of twenty-five farsakhs (parsangs). They embark in the East Sea (Red Sea), and sail from Kolzum to El-Tar (port of Medina) and Jeddah (port of Mecca); then they go to Sind, India, and China. On their return they carry back musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon, and other products of the Eastern countries to Kolzum, and bring them to Farama, where they again embark on the Western Sea. Some make sail for Constantinople to sell their goods to the Romans; others go to the palace of the king of the Franks to place their goods. Sometimes these Jewish merchants, when embarking in the land of the Franks in the Western Sea, make for Antioch; thence they go by land to Al-Jabia, Al-Hanaya (on the bank of the Euphrates), where they arrive after three days' march. There they embark on the Euphrates for Baghdad, and then sail down the Tigris to Al-Obolla. From Al-Obolla they sail for Oman, Sind, Hind, and China. These different journeys can also be made by land. The merchants that start from Spain or France go to Sous Al-Akça (Morocco), and then to Tangier, whence they march to Kairouan and the capital of Egypt. Thence they go to Ar-Ramla, visit Damascus, al-Kufa, Baghdad, and Basra, cross Ahwaz, Persia, Kerman, Sind, Hind, and arrive at China. Sometimes they likewise take the route behind Rome, and, passing through the country of the Slavs, arrive at Khamlij, the capital of the Khazars. They embark on the Jorjan (Caspian?) Sea , arrive at Balkh, betake themselves from there across the Oxus, and continue their journey toward Yourt, Toghozgbor, and from there to China."

Historical significance

During the Early Middle Ages the Islamic polities of the Middle East and North Africa and the Christian kingdoms of Europe often banned each others' merchants from entering their ports. Corsairs of both sides raided the shipping of their adversaries at will. The Radhanites functioned as neutral go-betweens, keeping open the lines of communication and trade between the lands of the old Roman Empire and the Far East. As a result of the revenue they brought, Jewish merchants enjoyed significant privileges under the early Carolingians in France and throughout the Muslim world, a fact that greatly vexed the local Church authorities.

While most trade between Europe and East Asia had historically been conducted via Persian and Central Asian intermediaries, the Radhanites were among the first to establish a unifed transcontinental trade network. More remarkable still, they engaged in this trade regularly and over an extended period of time, centuries before Marco Polo and ibn Batuta brought their tales of travel in the Orient to the Europeans and the Muslims, respectively.

While traditionally many historians believed that the art of Chinese paper-making had been transmitted to Europe via Arab merchants who got the secret from prisoners-of-war taken at Talas, some believe that Jewish merchants such as the Radhanites were instrumental in bringing paper-making west. Joseph of Spain, possibly a Radhanite, is credited by some sources with introducing the so-called Hindu-Arabic numerals from India to Europe. Historically, Jewish communities used letters of credit to transport large quantities of money without the risk of theft from at least classical times. This system was developed and put into force on unprecedented scale by medieval Jewish merchants such as the Radhanites; if so, they may be counted among the earliest modern bankers.

Some scholars believe that the Radhanites may have played a role in the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism. In addition, they may have helped establish Jewish communities at various points along their trade routes, and were probably involved in the early Jewish settlement of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, China and India.

The end of the Radhanite age

The fall of the Tang dynasty of China in 908 and the destruction of the Khazar Khaganate some sixty years later led to widespread chaos in Inner Eurasia, the Caucasus and China. Trade routes became unstable and unsafe, a situation exacerbated by Turkic invasions of Persia and the Middle East, and the Silk Road largely collapsed for centuries. Moreover, the fragmentation of the Islamic world (and to a lesser extent, Christendom) into small states provided more opportunities for non-Jews to enter the market. This period saw the rise of the mercantile Italian city-states, especially Genoa, Venice, Pisa, and Amalfi, who viewed the Radhanites as unwanted competitors.

The economy of Europe was profoundly affected by the disappearance of the Radhanites. For example, documentary evidence indicates that many spices in regular use during the early Middle Ages completely disappeared from European tables in the 900s. Jews had previously, in large parts of Western Europe, enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the spice trade. For the Jews, it marked the end of the golden age of trade and the beginning of a long period of systematic persecution and victimization.

See also

• Caravanserai
• Spice trade
• Silk Road

Notes

1. Bendiner 99-104.
2. See, e.g., Enc. of World Trade - From Ancient Times to the Present, "China".
3. e.g., Enc. of World - Trade From Ancient Times to the Present, "Radanites" 764.
4. Adler x.; see also Encyclopedia of World Trade - From Ancient Times to the Present , "Radanites" 764.
5. Antiquities 18.6.3
6. Rabinowitz 91.
7. e.g., Gregory of Tours, iv. 12, 35; vi. 5

Sources

• Adler, Elkan. Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages. New York: Dover Publications, 1987.
• Bendiner, Elmer. The Rise and Fall of Paradise. New York: Putnam Books, 1983.
• Fossier, Robert, ed. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages, vol. 1: 350-950. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997.
• "China." Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present, vol. 1, ed. Cynthia Clark Northrup, p. 29. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.
• Gil, Moshe. "The Radhanite Merchants and the Land of Radhan." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 17:3 (1976). 299-328.
• Gregory of Tours. De Gloria Martyrorum.
• Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews.
• Rabinowitz, Louis. Jewish Merchant Adventurers: A Study of the Radanites. London: Edward Goldston, 1948.
• "Radanites." Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present, vol. 3, ed. Cynthia Clark Northrup, p. 763-764. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.

• Jewish history
• Khazars
• Economic history
• Trade routes