Loan and Logistics

This chapter explores the loans that were carried across the sea, but not at the creditor’s risk, and the loans that were carried only in part or not carried at all across the sea. The loan of the Muziris papyrus was not used to buy commodities either in Egypt or in India. It was secured to pay transport costs in Egypt—across the Eastern Desert, and along the Nile—on both the outward and the return journeys. Therefore, it was only in part exposed to the dangers of the sea. In other words, it was only in part a maritime loan. Most of the money was delivered on shore, when the Indian commodities were safe. Moreover, the transfer of a pepper carrier cargo from the Red Sea to Alexandria required special resources and infrastructures, which the imperial administration guaranteed at a certain cost.

Business · Creditor · Debt · Fishery · Geography · Loan · Shore · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Finance · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Islamic Studies and History