India's Dominance of the Textile Trade
Before the age of machine industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. Coarser cottons were made in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India.
The trade moved by both land and sea. Armenian and Persian merchants carried goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, eastern Persia and Central Asia, on camel back across the north-west frontier. A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre-colonial ports: Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea ports; Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast and Hoogly in Bengal had links with Southeast Asian ports.
Indian Merchants and the Trade Network
A variety of Indian merchants and bankers were involved in this export trade — financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters. Supply merchants linked the port towns to the inland regions: they gave advances to weavers, procured the woven cloth from weaving villages, and carried the supply to the ports, where shippers and export merchants bought through brokers.
By the 1750s this network, controlled by Indian merchants, was breaking down. The European companies gradually gained power — first securing concessions from local courts, then monopoly rights to trade.
The Decline of the Old Ports
As European power grew, the old ports of Surat and Hoogly declined. Exports from these ports fell dramatically, the credit that had financed the earlier trade dried up, and local bankers went bankrupt. The gross value of trade through Surat fell from Rs 16 million in the late seventeenth century to Rs 3 million by the 1740s.
While Surat and Hoogly decayed, Bombay and Calcutta grew. This shift from the old to the new ports was an indicator of the growth of colonial power: trade through the new ports was controlled by European companies and carried in European ships, and surviving Indian trading houses now had to operate within a network shaped by the Europeans.
Questions and Answers
Q1. Describe the trade networks through which Indian textiles reached the world before colonial rule. Ans. Indian textiles moved by land and sea. Armenian and Persian merchants carried goods by camel from Punjab to Central Asia; and a vibrant sea trade operated through Surat (to the Gulf and Red Sea), Masulipatam and Hoogly (to Southeast Asia). Indian merchants and bankers financed and organised this trade.
Q2. Why did the port of Surat decline by the end of the eighteenth century? Ans. As the European companies gained monopoly power, the old ports lost their trade: exports fell, the credit dried up, and local bankers went bankrupt. Surat's trade fell from Rs 16 million to Rs 3 million, while the European-controlled ports of Bombay and Calcutta grew.
Questions and Answers (continued)
Q3. What role did supply merchants play in the Indian textile trade? Ans. Supply merchants linked the port towns to the inland weaving regions. They gave advances to weavers, procured the woven cloth from the villages, and carried the supply to the ports, where export merchants bought it through brokers.
Q4. What did the shift from the old ports (Surat, Hoogly) to the new ports (Bombay, Calcutta) indicate? Ans. It indicated the growth of colonial power. Trade through the new ports was controlled by European companies and carried in European ships, and surviving Indian traders had to operate within the European network.