Only a limited number of primary sources use the term, and it remains unclear whether they referred to a specificguild, to aclan, or generically to Jewish merchants in the trans-Eurasian trade network.
Another hypothesis suggests that the name might be derived from the city ofRay (Rhages) in northernIran. Still others think the name possibly derives from thePersian termsrah "way, path" anddān "one who knows", meaning "one who knows the way".[2]
Two western Jewish historians,Cecil Roth andClaude Cahen, have suggested a connection to the name of theRhône River valley inFrance, which isRhodanus inLatin andRhodanos (Ῥοδανός) inGreek. They claim that the center of Radhanite activity was probably in France as all of their trade routes began there.[3]
English-language and other Western sources added the suffix-ite to the term, as is done withethnonyms or names derived from place names.[4]
The activities of the Radhanites are documented byIbn Khordadbeh – thepostmaster, chief of police (and spymaster) for the province ofJibal, under theAbbasidCaliphal-Mu'tamid – when he wroteKitab al-Masalik wal-Mamalik (Book of Roads and Kingdoms), in about 870. The Radhanites are otherwise not attested.[1] Ibn Khordadbeh described the Radhanites as sophisticated and multilingual. He outlined four main trade routes used by the Radhanites in their journeys;[2] all four began in theRhone Valley in southernFrance and terminated on China's east coast. Radhanites primarily carried commodities that combined small bulk and high demand, includingspices,perfumes,jewelry, andsilk. They are also described as transportingoils,incense,steel weapons,furs, andslaves.
In hisBook of Roads and Kingdoms (Arabic:كِتَاب ٱلْمَسَالِك وَٱلْمَمَالِك,Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik), Ibn Khordadbeh listed four routes along which Radhanites traveled in the following account.[3]
These merchants speakArabic,Persian,Roman,[5] theFrank,[6]Spanish, andSlav languages. They journey from West to East, from East to West, partly on land, partly by sea. They transport from the Westeunuchs, female slaves, boys,brocade,castor,marten and other furs, andswords. They take ship fromFiranja(France[7]), on theWestern Sea, and make forFarama(Pelusium). There they load their goods oncamel-back andgo by land toal-Kolzum (Suez), a distance of twenty-fivefarsakhs. They embark in theEast Sea and sail from al-Kolzum toal-Jar andal-Jeddah, then they go toSind, India, and China. On their return from China they carry backmusk,aloes,camphor,cinnamon, and other products of the Eastern countries to al-Kolzum and bring them back to Farama, where they again embark on the Western Sea. Some make sail forConstantinople to sell their goods to theRomans; others go to the palace of theKing of the Franks to place their goods. Sometimes these Jewish merchants, when embarking from the land of theFranks, on the Western Sea, make forAntioch(at the head of theOrontes River); thence by land to al-Jabia (al-Hanaya on the bank of theEuphrates), where they arrive after three days' march. There they embark on the Euphrates and reachBaghdad, whence they sail down theTigris, toal-Obolla. From al-Obolla they sail forOman,Sindh, Hind, and China.
Sometimes, also, they take the route behindRome and, passing through the country of theSlavs, arrive atKhamlidj, the capital of theKhazars. They embark on theJorjan Sea, arrive atBalkh, betake themselves from there across theOxus, and continue their journey toward Yurt,Toghuzghuz, and from there to China.[8]
A caravan ofdromedaries inAlgeria. Much of the Radhanites' overland trade between Tangier and Mesopotamia was by camel.
During theEarly Middle Ages, Muslim polities of theMiddle East andNorth Africa and Christian kingdoms ofEurope often banned each other's merchants from entering their ports.[9]Privateers 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 oldRoman Empire and theFar East. As a result of the revenue they brought, Jewish merchants enjoyed significant privileges under the earlyCarolingian dynasty in France and throughout the Muslim world, a fact that sometimes vexed local Church authorities.
While most trade between Europe and East Asia had historically been conducted via Persian andCentral Asian intermediaries, the Radhanites were among the first to establish a trade network that stretched from Western Europe to Eastern Asia.[10] They engaged in this trade regularly and over an extended period of time, centuries beforeMarco Polo andIbn Battuta brought their tales of travel in theOrient to the Christians and the Muslims, respectively. Ibn Battuta is believed to have traveled with the Muslim traders who traveled to the Orient on routes similar to those used by the Radhanites.
While traditionally many historians believed that theart of Chinese papermaking had been transmitted to Europe via Arab merchants who got the secret fromprisoners of war taken at theBattle of Talas, some believe that Jewish merchants such as the Radhanites were instrumental in bringing paper-making west.[11]Joseph of Spain, possibly a Radhanite, is credited by some sources with introducing the so-calledArabic numerals from India to Europe.[12] Historically, Jewish communities usedletters of credit to transport large quantities of money without the risk of theft from at least classical times.[13] This system was developed and put into force on an unprecedented scale by medieval Jewish merchants such as the Radhanites; if so, they may be counted among the precursors to thebanks that arose during thelate Middle Ages andearly modern period.[14]
Some scholars believe that the Radhanites may have played a role in the conversion of theKhazars to Judaism.[15] 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 ofEastern Europe, Central Asia, China and India.
Much of the Radhanites'Indian Ocean trade was via coastal cargo ships such as thisdhow.
Ibn al-Faqih's early 10th centuryBook of the Countries mentions them, but much of Ibn al-Faqih's information was derived from Ibn Khordadbeh's work.[16]
The Radhanites had mostly disappeared by the end of the 10th century; there have been suggestions that a collection of 11th century Jewish scrolls discovered in a cave in Afghanistan'sSamangan Province in 2011 may represent a remnant of Radhanites in that area.[17]
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 10th century. Jews had previously, in large parts of Western Europe, enjoyed a virtual monopoly on thespice trade.[18]Theslave trade appears to have been continued by other agents, for example, for the year 1168,Helmold von Bosau reports that 700 enslavedDanes were offered for sale inMecklenburg bySlavic pirates.[4]In theBlack Sea area, slave trade appears to have been taken over by theTatars, mostly selling enslaved Slavs to the Ottoman Turks.[5]
^ It is unclear to what specific language Ibn Khordadbeh refers. The word"Firanj" can be used to mean "Frank" and thus most likely the language referred to is either theVulgar Latin dialect that ultimately evolved intoFrench or theGermanic language originally spoken by the Franks, calledOld Frankish by linguists. However, in the Middle AgesFiranj was a generic term used by Arabs (and Eastern Christians) for Western Europeans generally. It is possible that Ibn Khordadbeh uses "Frank" as a counterpoint to "Roman" (Byzantine Greek), indicating that the Radhanites spoke the languages of both Eastern and Western Christians.
^ Though some, such as Moshe Gil, maintain that "Firanja" as used in this context refers to the Frankish-occupied areas ofItaly, and not to France proper. Gil 299–310.
^ Adler 2–3; for alternative translationssee, e.g.,De Goeje 114; Rabinowitz 9–10; Among the minor differences between the accounts is Rabinowitz's rendering of "Khamlif" in place of "Khamlidj" and his reference to the "Yourts of the Toghozghuz" as opposed to Yurt and Toghuzghuz as separate entities. Rabinowitz's version, translated, means "Tents of the Uyghurs".See also Dunlop 138, 209, 230.
^Helmold von Bosau:Slawenchronik. 6. Auflage. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2002, p. 377; Robert Bartlett:Die Geburt Europas aus dem Geist der Gewalt. Eroberung, Kolonisierung und kultureller Wandel von 950–1350. Kindler, 1996, p. 366.
^Alexandre Skirda: La traite des Slaves. L’esclavage des Blancs du VIIIe au XVIIIe siècle. Les Éditions de Paris, Paris 2010, p. 171. Robert C. Davis:Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
"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.
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.
Bareket, Elinoar. "Rādhānites".Medieval Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Norman Roth, ed. Routledge, 2002. pp 558–561.
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.
Pritsak, Omeljan. "The Khazar Kingdom's Conversion to Judaism."Harvard Ukrainian Studies 3:2 (Sept. 1978).
Weissenborn, HermannZur Geschichte der Einführung der jetzigen Ziffern in Europa durch Gerbert: eine Studie, Berlin: Mayer & Müller, 1892.
