Joseph Emin
Joseph Emin Յովսէփ Էմին | |
---|---|
Calcutta, India | |
Nationality | Armenian |
Other names | Hoseph |
Spouse | Thangoom-Khatoon Emin |
Children | Arshak, Joseph |
Parent(s) | Joseph, (Mother's name unknown) |
Joseph Emin (Armenian: Յովսէփ Էմին, Hovsep Emin; 1726 – 2 August 1809) was an Indo-Armenian traveler, writer and patriot who sought to achieve the liberation of Armenia from Persian and Ottoman rule. He wrote an autobiography titled The Life and Adventures of Joseph Emin the Armenian Written in English by Himself, which was first published in London in 1792.
Born in Hamadan and raised in Calcutta, he traveled to London as a young man, received a military education there, and fought in the Seven Years' War. In 1759-1760, he traveled to Armenia for the first time, preaching his ideas of liberation to Armenian villagers along the way. He then went to Russia to seek support for his program for the liberation of Armenia. In 1763 he left Russia for Georgia with a group of supporters and was received by the Georgian king Heraclius II. Emin established contacts in Ottoman Armenia, hoping to eventually raise a rebellion with Heraclius's support. However, in 1764 the Georgian king exiled Emin, who then unsuccessfully attempted to gather support for his plans among the Armenian meliks (princes) of Karabakh. Emin eventually returned to India, where he became a close collaborator of the Armenia writer Shahamir Shahamirian. From 1777 to 1783, Emin lived New Julfa, Iran and unsuccessfully tried to return to Armenia and resume his revolutionary activities. He returned to India for the last time in 1783 and spent the rest of his life there.
Emin espoused the ideas of the European Enlightenment and sought to spread these to his compatriots. Although he was criticized and persecuted by the Armenian clerical elite for his ideals and activities, he is celebrated by Armenians today as a national hero and a pioneer of the Armenian national liberation movement. He has been described as the first Asian to travel from India to Britain and to write an account of his travels in a European language.
Early life
Emin was born in
Life in England
In 1751, against his father's wishes, Emin left for London. His first four years there were filled with misery and hard labour, and he was deprived of any financial assistance from his father. However, in 1755 Emin experienced a turning point in his life. He met and befriended Edmund Burke, the future British statesman and political writer, with whose support he gained access to the circles of British intellectuals and nobility. He received sponsorship from Hugh Percy the Duke of Northumberland and was admitted to the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, where he remained for thirteenth months after which he enlisted as a volunteer in the British and Prussian armies during their war against France in order to gain practical experience.
Efforts to liberate Armenia
Emin left London in 1759 and traveled to
, had liberated his country from the Persian yoke and reestablished the Georgian Kingdom. However, Emin was disappointed with the ignorance of the Armenian clergy and the passive and apathetic leadership. He decided to return to London to pursue other avenues for his liberation plans.Emin returned to England in early 1761 from where he secured passage to Russia from
Return to India
After his second failed attempt to persuade King Heraclius, Emin left Georgia, and passing through Armenia and Persia, returned to India in 1770, where he tried to secure financial support from Armenian merchants to go back to Armenia to maintain a 'few troops' there. But facing clerical opposition again, he failed. Bitterly disillusioned, he rejoined the British Army under
Descendants and heritage
Emin's book (The Life and Adventures of Joseph Emin) was revised by his great-great-granddaughter Amy Apcar who added many letters and documents letters written by Emin. He also has descendants living in Calcutta, Russia, and London. Emin was also a descendant of Emin the First (or Emin the Great), who is thought to have held a position of considerable power in Armenia during the early 1500s. None of Emin's remaining descendants have retained the name 'Emin', and thus it has been lost.
References
- ^ a b c d Ioannisi︠a︡n 1989, p. 10.
- ^ Ioannisi︠a︡n 1989, p. 11.
- ^ Emin 1918, p. 19.
Bibliography
- Aslanian, Sebouh D. (2012). "A Reader Responds to Joseph Emin's Life and Adventures: Notes toward a "History of Reading" in Late Eighteenth Century Madras". Handes Amsorya (1–12): 363–418.
- Emin, Emin Joseph (1918). Apcar, Amy (ed.). Life and Adventures of Emin Joseph Emin, 1726–1809 (PDF) (Second ed.). Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press.
- Fisher, Michael H. (2004). Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settlers in Britain, 1600–1857. Delhi: Permanent Black. ISBN 81-7824-077-7.
- Hovhannisyan, A. (1978). "Ēmin Hovsepʻ". In Simonyan, Abel (ed.). Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran [Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia] (in Armenian). Vol. 4. Erevan: AE Publishing House. pp. 45.
- Ioannisi︠a︡n, A. R. (1989). Iosif Ėmin (in Russian). Erevan: Izd-vo AN Armi︠a︡nskoĭ SSR.
Further reading
- Fisher, M. (25 May 2006). "Emin, Emin Joseph (1726–1809), army officer in the East India Company and Armenian nationalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
External links
- (in Russian) Одной жизни мало. A historical novel about Joseph Emin by Eduard Avagyan