Many people think it was actually more than just a few hundred. In fact it can be seen from these figures, that it really was only just a few hundred.
Originally extracted from the Armenian Church Registers of the Holy Nazareth Church Calcutta, this snapshot gives a far more realistic picture of the Armenian minority community of the city. Compiled from the Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire, 1839.
In 1814 there were 464 Armenians in Calcutta
In 1815 there were 480 Armenians in Calcutta
In 1836 there were 505 Armenians in Calcutta
Your post gives a significant and important information and insight into the Armenian population of Calcutta in the early part of the 19th century. I am fascinated by some of the statistics and if one were to consider the records for the period 1827-1835, where numbers of deaths are also available, the severity of the situation becomes more apparent. There was not only a short life span for the population but there was a terrible mortality rate of children. Considering the 8 years in the noted period, deaths far outweighed births and clearly there was an attrition of the local Armenian population. There were 108 births (average of just over 13 per year), 136 deaths (average of 17 per year) of which almost a quarter of them (32 in total) were children under the age of 2, the majority of these being age 1 or under. Although we might think that child mortality rates were higher in India perhaps than other countries, my own grandmother who was born in Julfa, in Isfahan, was one of 9 children. Three of her siblings died under 2 years of age and one died, age just over 18. We certainly have made great progress in preserving and extending life.
ReplyDeleteAndy M. Ontario, Canada