page_title: Mikayel Nalbandian
section_title: Travels
hierarchical_section_title: Mikayel Nalbandian / Life / Travels
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Michael Nalbandjan (1829-1866)
context_page_description: Mikayel Nalbandian was an Armenian writer, poet, political theorist and activist.
  Nalbandian was born in Nakhichevan-on-Don, an Armenian town in southern Russia, and traveled extensively, although he visited Armenia itself only once. A radical intellectual, Nalbandian was an avid advocate of secularism and anti-clericalism, the use of modern Armenian and a vocal critic of the conservative clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He also espoused anti-Catholicism. Inspired by the Enlightenment and the Italian unification, Nalbandian advocated reform, cultural nationalism and agrarianism among Armenians. In his later years he was influenced by Russian radicals such as Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Chernyshevsky. For his association with them, he was persecuted and died in exile at 37.
  A champion of modernism, he is seen as a follower of Khachatur Abovian. In turn, he influenced many others, including the novelist Raffi, Armenian nationalist revolutionaries, and Armenian Marxists, such as Alexander Miasnikian.
context_section_description: He subsequently left for Calcutta, India to arrange the transfer of a large amount willed by an Armenian merchant to the Armenian community of New Nakhichevan. In a July 1860 meeting of some 300 community members of New Nakhichevan, he was elected as the representative to travel to India. His travels lasted from August 1860 to May 1862. They had a significant impact on Nalbandian's views. He visited Tiflis, where he met Ghazaros Aghayan and other Armenian intellectuals, Russian (Eastern) Armenia and Constantinople. In his only visit to Russian Armenia, he traveled to Yerevan, Etchmiadzin (the center of the Armenian Church), and the grave of Mesrop Mashtots, the 5th century inventor of the Armenian alphabet, in Oshakan. In Constantinople he met with Harutiun Svadjian, the editor of Meghu, and other members of the local Armenian intelligentsia.
  On his way to London to obtain official permission for his journey, he visited Italy (Messina, Sicily, Naples, Rome, and Genoa), and contacted with independence activists—supporters of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the leader of the Italian unification movement. In London, he was confirmed by the Russian embassy and the British Foreign Office as New Nakhichevan's representative to arrange the transfer of the will from India. He thereafter traveled to Calcutta via Marseille, Alexandria, Suez, Aden, Ceylon, and Madras. After successfully arranging the transfer of the money of Maseh Babajan, Nalbandian left India in September 1861.
caption: An undated photo of Nalbandian
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