The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors

Our ambassadors arrive in the Russian city of Astrakhan on June 15, 1638, and stay until September 7. Bruggeman has a guilty conscience for his “many imprudent actions” during the journey. He also fears being punished by Duke Frederick upon returning to Holstein, a fear which causes him to make even more bad decisions. They leave Astrakhan on September 7, after being informed by some local rogue C...

It is the middle of April, 1638, and our German trade ministers are roughly two-thirds of the way through their 9,000-mile round-trip to Isfahan. They are stuck in the city of Tarku, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, which today bears the name of Makhachkala and is the capital of Russia’s Republic of Dagestan. They are stuck because independent warlords control every village, city, and river crossi...

Our ambassadors leave the city of Schamachie on March 30, 1638, keeping an eye out for highway robbers, and a week later arrive in Derbent. The coastline of Derbent is pure rock, and serves as the foundation of the city wall, which is so broad that a wagon easily be driven on top of it. The city is sometimes called the Gate of Persia, since it lies on the extreme northwestern edge of the empire, a...

“Having travell’d two leagues, we were got to the Caspian Sea-side, whence we saw the Countrey, which is all cover’d with Trees and Forests towards the North and South, spreading itself like a Crescent a great way into the Sea, on the right hand, from about Mesanderan and Ferahath, and on the left, from about Astara. We travell’d about a league along the Caspian Sea-side, and lodg’d at night upon...

Our ambassadors are in the northern Persian city of Caswin, about 50 miles from the Caspian Sea, and near their lodgings is a tree full of nails and ribbons. A saint who once performed miracles is buried under the tree, and a holy man at the site collects alms and offerings from people who come for healing from toothaches, fevers, and other diseases. The healing is not free, of course, and the alm...

The date is December 21, 1637, and we have made our way to Book 7 of the travel journal of Adam Olearius, the last of the series. Our trade ambassadors have survived the dangerous journey from Germany to the capital city of Persia, but, as we will see, Ambassador Otto Bruggeman’s actions have made the return trip even more dangerous. On New Year’s Day they fire their cannons three times in celebra...

Welcome to The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors, the epic story of a 17th century trade expedition from Germany to Persia that failed so completely its leader was publicly executed upon his return. This is Episode 25: Dogs, Pigs, Camels and Silk. Last time we heard about the suburbs and agriculture of Isfahan, and now we will learn why, according to Persian lore, certain animals hate each ot...

We continue our exploration of Isfahan, which is the most commodious of any Persian city, Olearius writes, and is just as good in winter or summer because the mountains are nearby and there is always some wind stirring, which cools the air in all the homes of the city. Surrounding Isfahan there are nearly 1500 villages, many of them engaged in manufacturing textiles. Every province in the country...

They say that the City of Isfahan was once called Hecatonopolis, and that 2nd century Roman astronomer Ptolemy referred to it as Aspadana. In old Persian, the city was known as Sipahan, the plural form of a word meaning “the gathering place for armies,” and plural because the original city consisted of seven villages. Tamerlane conquered the city in 1387 AD and named it Ispahan – with a p – by swi...

Shah Safi I is the grandson of Shah Abbas I, and he had succeeded to the throne only because Abbas had murdered his eldest son and blinded his younger sons. Like the sons, the grandson spent his youth in his grandfather’s harem, where he was regularly given large amounts of opium and alcohol. Abbas took the throne from his father in 1587 with a military coup. Upon seizing power, he sent his father...

Last time, we heard the tale of watchmaker John Stadler’s execution for murdering a Muslim citizen of Isfahan. This time we will hear the same tale as told in 1678 by French jewel merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who made six voyages to Turkey, Persia, and India over the course of his 40-year career. Tavernier is perhaps most famous as the man who brought the Hope Diamond from India to Europe, pr...

The Armenian community in Isfahan was created in 1604 when Shah Abbas conducted a scorched earth military campaign against the Ottomans in the Caucuses, left many villages and the city of Julfa as smoking ruins, and deported the Armenians to Persia for his strategic and economic benefit. Our ambassadors have their first public audience with the shah occurs on August 8, 1637, and the first private...

Our ambassadors arrive in Isfahan on August 3, 1637, and immediately get into a running street battle with servants of the Indian ambassador. The shah demands someone's head. Olearius tells us that, in general, the Indians are good natured, civil, friendly, and their conversation not unpleasant, provided that no one does them any injury. But they are also apt to resent any kind of insult, they are...

The Holstein trade mission leaves Caswin on the evening of July 13, 1637, the baggage and sick people leaving first and the gentlemen following later that night. This is the final leg of their outbound journey from the German port city of Hamburg to the Persian capital of Isfahan that began almost four years ago. Along the route they’re taking, Persia is about 500 miles wide from the Caspian Sea t...

The Persian city of Caswin, where our trade ambassadors from Holstein are now, is about 50 miles from the south shore of the Caspian Sea. They have traveled almost 500 miles overland after being shipwrecked on the west shore near the small town of Nisavay, and they have roughly another 300 miles to go before reaching their destination – the capital city of Isfahan. The perimeter of Persia is almos...

As the trade mission from Duke Frederick of Holstein prepares to leave Ardebil, our author investigates the local religious institution built by the city’s founder and expanded by his son. Its wealth amounts to many millions in gold, that it could supply more ready cash than the Shah of Persia himself, and that it is capable of raising and maintaining a powerful army all on its own. The tomb of Sh...

"By God’s wisdom, because cats in Ardebil have short lives, there are very many rats, more than in other regions. The mice chew up the people's clothing – their woolen cloaks, for example. So this city has a royal auction for cats. There are professional cat-brokers, much in demand, who sell cats in cages. The Divrigi cat is a particular favorite, fetching a price of up to 100 gurus; still, it doe...

This is the first episode of the year 2024, and I am recording it on January 1. On the Islamic calendar, the current year is 1445, and it is 1402 on the Iranian calendar. In Persia, the date is March 30, 1637, and our travelers are in the Kur River valley near the modern-day border of Azerbaijan and Iran. After days of freezing in the mountains, they now encounter “nothing but fair weather, a sky...

The worst day of the Persian year is the Wednesday before New Year’s Day. Nothing good ever happens on that day, so no one does business, no one signs contracts, no one holds a party, and – perhaps most important of all – no one pays anyone any money. Some people spend the entire day counting whatever money they have, while others go without speaking. Many people sprinkle their homes and possessio...

Welcome to The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors, the epic story of a 17th century trade expedition from Germany to Persia that failed so completely its leader was publicly executed upon his return. This is Episode 12: Gunpowder Empires. It is still early February, 1637, and our voyagers are still in the city of Schamachie, Persia, just a few days by horseback from where they were shipwrecked...

It is now January 1637, and the new year begins with a funeral for the Persian man who drank himself to death at the welcome party for our ambassadors in the town of Schamachie. Olearius visits various schools and mosques on his walks in the city, and sometimes carries with him a small celestial globe which he has made himself. Teachers and students tell him that “astrology and the mathematicks” m...

It is now December 1636, and our adventurers are making their way south along the coast of the Caspian Sea, in what is still one of the most dangerous places on earth. We ended the last episode with a brief history of the major conquests of the region. As I write this episode, the most recent military conflict has ended in the old way: a prolonged siege with all the suffering that entails, followe...

How many miles to Babylon? Threescore miles and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again. If your heels are nimble and light,You may get there by candle-light. –  Songs for the Nursery (1805) The date is November 15, 1636, and the wrecked Friedrich has deposited them in a very pleasant country, green and filled with birds who sing until the middle of December. The village of Nisav...

It is now October 10, 1636, and the Friedrich is sailing down the shallow Volga delta, guided by a new pilot from Astrakhan and preceded by a boat of Tatars who are supposed to help them avoid the sandbars. Incredibly big plants grow along the river, Olearius says. Esula, today listed among the world’s 100 most invasive species, grows as tall as a man, and Angelica as big as a man’s arm. Angelica...

The date is September 16, 1636. After an exhausting voyage down the Volga, our ambassadors are anchored off the Russian city of Astrakhan, and Paul Fleming is writing a 200-line poetic monument to his friend and fellow poet, Adam Olearius. He relates how he and Olearius are wont to go down to the edge of the Caspian to contemplate the tempestuous sea, describing its fury and the events that culmin...