The Merchant Houses of Mocha - 9780295989105

University of Washington Press

The Merchant Houses of MochaTrade and Architecture in an Indian Ocean Port\nAuthor(s): Nancy Um\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of Washington Press, United States\nImprint: University of Washington Press\nISBN-13: 9780295989105, 978-0295989105\nSynopsis\nGaining prominence as a seaport under the Ottomans in the mid-1500s, the city of Mocha on the Red Sea coast of Yemen pulsed with maritime commerce. Its very name became synonymous with Yemen's most important revenue-producing crop -- coffee. After the imams of the Qasimi dynasty ousted the Ottomans in 1635, Mocha's trade turned eastward toward the Indian Ocean and coastal India. Merchants and shipowners from Asian, African, and European shores flocked to the city to trade in Arabian coffee and aromatics, Indian textiles, Asian spices, and silver from the New World.\nNancy Um tells how and why Mocha's urban shape and architecture took the forms they did. Mocha was a hub in a great trade network encompassing overseas cities, a.