Journeys of faith and fortune: Christian travelers in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century dar al-Islam (Afanasii Nikitin, Nicolo de Conti, Ludovico de Varthema, Russia, Italy)

This dissertation examines three fifteenth century travel accounts to show the effects of the commercial milieu on personal religious identity of individuals. Afanasii Nikitin (1468--1474), a Russian merchant from Tver', Nicolo de Conti (1419--1444), a merchant from Venice, and Ludovico de Varthema (1503--1508), an adventurer from Bologna, each left detailed records of their everyday encounters with Muslims, Hindus, and Christians during their travels through India. Their accounts reveal that foreign merchants converted to Islam for different reasons and in various degrees and that conversion to Islam varied from region to region. Their unique perspective on the challenges faced by individuals conducting business in the dar al-Islam (the region where Muslim authorities held power) presents an original perspective on the relationship between trade and religion. While world historians frequently acknowledge the close association between trade and conversion to Islam in the pre-modern era, most of their conclusions avoid individual accounts and instead focus on large-scale conversions of entire societies. Moreover, scholars typically offer broad secular explanations for conversion such as Islam was "attractive" to merchants because it improved their economic and social status. This dissertation, however, explains religion's role in trade by examining the personal experiences of Nikitin, Conti, and Varthema. Using Russian, Italian and English sources, it details exactly how individual merchants converted to Islam as well as why. It argues that some merchants thoughtfully considered Islam's spiritual attributes, that motivation for conversion differed in various Muslim regions, and it examines the various degrees and meanings of conversion---from "social" conversion to "forced" conversion to a genuine spiritual confession of faith. Overall, it argues that everyday cultural interactions provide historians with a more complete understanding of the relationship between religion and trade prior to Europe's dominance of the Indian Ocean spice trade in the early sixteenth century.