Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- General editor's preface
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 India in the Indian Ocean trade, circa 1500
- 2 The Portuguese in India, 1500–1640
- 3 The European trading companies: exports from Europe and the generation of purchasing power in Asia
- 4 The companies in India: the politics and the economics of trade
- 5 Euro-Asian and intra-Asian trade: the phase of Dutch domination, 1600–1680
- 6 The VOC and the growing competition by the English and the French, 1680–1740
- 7 The supremacy of the English East India Company, 1740–1800
- 8 European trade and the Indian economy
- 9 Conclusion
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
- Misc-endmatter
- Map 1 Important trading centres in Asia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries"
- Map 2 Portuguese seaborne empire, c. 1580"
- Map 3 The Indian Ocean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, showing the settlements of the English East India Company and of other European nations"
- Map 4 India: main textile–weaving areas, 1600–1750"
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- General editor's preface
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 India in the Indian Ocean trade, circa 1500
- 2 The Portuguese in India, 1500–1640
- 3 The European trading companies: exports from Europe and the generation of purchasing power in Asia
- 4 The companies in India: the politics and the economics of trade
- 5 Euro-Asian and intra-Asian trade: the phase of Dutch domination, 1600–1680
- 6 The VOC and the growing competition by the English and the French, 1680–1740
- 7 The supremacy of the English East India Company, 1740–1800
- 8 European trade and the Indian economy
- 9 Conclusion
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
- Misc-endmatter
- Map 1 Important trading centres in Asia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries"
- Map 2 Portuguese seaborne empire, c. 1580"
- Map 3 The Indian Ocean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, showing the settlements of the English East India Company and of other European nations"
- Map 4 India: main textile–weaving areas, 1600–1750"
Summary
The history of commercial traffic in the Indian Ocean goes back to at least the early centuries of the Christian era. Networks of trade covering different segments of the Ocean have a history of remarkable resilience without being resistant to innovation. In other words, without disrupting the rhythm of the overall flow, variables such as the share in total trade of different communities of merchants engaged in a given network, the goods carried, and the relative volume of trade carried on at the ports called at, were fully reflective of evolving situations. Over the centuries, India has played a key role in the successful functioning of these trading networks. This undoubtedly was related in part to her location at midpoint geographically, but it also had a good deal to do with her capacity to put on the market large quantities of relatively inexpensive and highly competitive manufactured goods in addition to a whole range of other goods. In return, she provided an important outlet for the specialized agricultural, mineral and other products offered by her trading partners. Trade thus satisfied different kinds of needs for India as compared with her major trading partners, and this by itself provided an excellent basis for a significant and growing level of trade. The key role of India can thus be conceptualized essentially as one of contributing significantly to the expansion of the basis of trade in the Indian Ocean.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998