24 Facts About Joseph Emin

Joseph Emin was an Indo-Armenian traveler, writer and patriot who sought to achieve the liberation of Armenia from Persian and Ottoman rule.

Joseph Emin 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.

Joseph Emin then went to Russia to seek support for his program for the liberation of Armenia.

Joseph Emin eventually returned to India, where he became a close collaborator of the Armenia writer Shahamir Shahamirian.

From 1777 to 1783, Joseph Emin lived New Julfa, Iran and unsuccessfully tried to return to Armenia and resume his revolutionary activities.

Joseph Emin returned to India for the last time in 1783 and spent the rest of his life there.

Joseph Emin espoused the ideas of the European Enlightenment and sought to spread these to his compatriots.

Joseph Emin 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.

Joseph Emin was born at a time when Iran was in turmoil as a result of the Afghan occupation of Isfahan and the fall of the Safavid dynasty.

Joseph Emin was sent back to Hamadan by his grandfather, where he was joined by his father.

In 1751, against his father's wishes, Joseph Emin left for London.

However, in 1755 Joseph Emin experienced a turning point in his life.

Joseph Emin 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.

Joseph Emin 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.

Joseph Emin left London in 1759 and traveled to Echmiadzin, passing through the Armenian areas of the Ottoman Empire on his way.

Joseph Emin decided to return to London to pursue other avenues for his liberation plans.

Joseph Emin returned to England in early 1761 from where he secured passage to Russia from Prince Golitsyn, the Russian Ambassador to England.

Joseph Emin entered Tiflis in 1763 with a letter of recommendation from Count Voronstov to King Heraclius II and accompanied by a large group of Armenian volunteers who had joined him from Armenian settlements in the North Caucasus.

In Tiflis, Joseph Emin stressed to the king the historical links between the Armenian and Georgian peoples and the monarch's legitimate rights to extend his rule over his ancestral lands, assuring him that a small but disciplined army could easily cross over into Armenia, where a general revolt against Persian and Ottoman rule would take place.

Joseph Emin remained in the region for the following five years, spending a lot of time among the mountain tribes, with whose assistance he was finally able to reach Karabagh and the mountainous Zangezur region in Armenia where he tried to pursue his liberation plans with the local Armenian nobles and the Armenian Bishop of Gandzasar.

Joseph Emin remained in India for the rest of his life, and devoted his time and energy to keeping the idea of the liberation of Armenia alive.

Joseph Emin wrote his memoirs where he described all his numerous and dangerous adventures.

Joseph Emin has descendants living in Calcutta, Russia, and London.

Joseph Emin was a descendant of Joseph Emin the First, who is thought to have held a position of considerable power in Armenia during the early 1500s.