Jean-Baptiste Tavernier: Part One

Before the Hope Diamond had a name or a curse, it passed through the hands of one remarkable Frenchman. This episode tells the story of Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a 17th-century merchant whose six voyages to the East changed the way Europeans understood gemstones forever.

Born in Paris in 1605 to a family of map-makers and engravers, Tavernier grew up surrounded by maps and the merchants who traded in them. By 22 he had already visited most of Europe and learned the languages to go with it. He was only getting started.

Matthew and Fenya trace his first five voyages from Istanbul to India, from the Golconda mines to Dutch-controlled Batavia, ending just as Tavernier is about to open the imperial jewel casket of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Part 2 is on the way

Key Takeaways

• Your environment shapes your ambitions. Growing up in his father's map shop on the Ile de la Cite, surrounded by merchants talking about faraway countries, Tavernier later credited those conversations as the spark behind everything he did.
• Going against the established route can be a competitive advantage. With the Dutch and English East India Companies dominating the sea lanes, Tavernier revived the overland Silk Road instead, avoiding bigger rivals and trading along the way.
• Diplomatic skill matters as much as commercial skill. He carried European clocks and jewellery specifically as gifts for local rulers, smoothing his passage across dozens of borders without the backing of a powerful company behind him.
• His book is one of the best records we have of this era. Tavernier documented diamond mining operations, grading standards, currency exchange, and cultural customs. Historians and gemologists still reference "The Six Voyages" today.
• The Hope Diamond's curse may have been a marketing story. Tavernier never mentions where he acquired the blue diamond in his own accounts, and notably lived to around 80 with a long and successful life.

Quotes

00:08:07 "If the effect of education may be linked to a second birth, I may truly say that I came into the world with a desire to travel... inspired me betimes with a design to see some part of those countries, which were represented to me in the maps from which I never could keep off my eyes." (Tavernier, read aloud from his book)

00:24:48 "The art of trading is the art of understanding men and their desires, whether they be in Paris or in the Indies." (Tavernier)

Resources

• The Six Voyages of Jean Baptiste Tavernier by Jean Baptiste Tavernier

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This podcast was produced for Courtville by Tape Deck