The Armenian diaspora in Venice, its activities in the Eurasian gem trade and its trading networks are at the centre of this analysis. As a case study, the commercial activities of the Sceriman family in the first half of the eighteenth century will be shown. These Armenian merchants settled in Venice and Livorno, which were the strategically most important business locations in Italy. Venice served as a significant turnover hub for trading and processing diamonds and other gems. Moreover, it functioned as a gateway connecting markets in Italy to those in the Levant, Persia and India. Livorno, meanwhile, was the most important centre for trading coral and manufacturing coral products. Furthermore, the Tuscan port linked Italy with the Atlantic markets, the West Indies, Africa and India. Both cities had commercial relations with markets in the German territories, in Vienna, Poland and Russia. Hence the diamond trade run by Armenian merchants was based on global networks that provided them with capital, information, infrastructure and specialized personnel.

Introduction

The trade and transfer of diamonds and other precious stones were based on economic, financial, social and ethnic networks that constituted and influenced specialized markets. In general the actors in these networks were private traders, as opposed to the Dutch and English East India Companies, which were mostly involved as carriers by shipping diamonds to Europe.