Joseph Emin
Armenian activist
Died when: 83 years 0 days (996 months)Star Sign: Leo
Joseph Emin (Armenian: ?????? ????, 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.