Towns, Traders and Craftspersons

UPSC GS1 — Medieval Indian Ocean Trade:

India was at the centre of Indian Ocean trade networks — connecting Arabia, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and China.

Surat (Gujarat):

• Most important port of Mughal India (17th century)
• Gateway for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca — pilgrims departed from Surat
• Had trading communities: Banias (Hindu merchants), Parsis, Armenians, Arab merchants, European factors
• First European factories: Portuguese (16th c.), then English (1608 — first English factory in India at Surat), Dutch
• Manufactured fine gold and silver thread embroidery (Surat work) and textiles exported to West Asia and Europe
• Declined in 18th century as Maratha raids + British shift to Bombay (Bombay's natural harbour + British fortification = Surat replaced)

Masulipatnam / Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh):

• Main port of the Golconda Sultanate (Deccan) on the Coromandel Coast
• Famous for chintz — printed/painted cotton cloth; exported to Southeast Asia and Europe
• Dutch and English East India companies established factories here (17th century)
• Connected to weaving villages in the Andhra hinterland

Calicut (Kozhikode, Kerala):

• Controlled by the Zamorin (ruler); major centre of pepper trade
• Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut in 1498 — marking beginning of direct European–India sea trade
• Arab merchants had dominated Calicut trade for centuries before Portuguese arrival

Inland trade routes:

• Goods moved by bullock carts, pack animals, river boats
• Sarais (rest houses) built along roads — part of Sher Shah Suri's road network (Grand Trunk Road)
• Banjaras (nomadic trading communities) transported grain and goods in large caravans

[Additional] Indian Ocean Trade Network — Monsoon, Routes, and the Chola Naval Expedition (GS1 — Medieval History / Indian Ocean):

How monsoon winds built the trade network:

Two major trade routes:

West Route: India (Malabar/Gujarat) → Gulf of Aden → Aden, Mocha (Yemen) OR Hormuz, Basra (Persian Gulf) → Egypt / East Africa (Kilwa, Mombasa, Sofala) → Mediterranean via Egyptian overland route

East Route: India (Coromandel/Malabar) → Strait of Malacca → South China Sea → Chinese ports (Quanzhou, Guangzhou). The Strait of Malacca was the critical chokepoint linking Indian Ocean to South China Sea.

Key trading communities:

What India exported vs. imported:

Key medieval ports:

Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo — Indian Ocean observers:

• Marco Polo (1254–1324): Venetian merchant; returned from China via the Indian Ocean (c. 1292–93), describing Malabar and Quilon ports in his Il Milione
• Ibn Battuta (1304–c.1368): Moroccan scholar-diplomat; traveled ~120,000 km; served as qadi (judge) in Delhi under Muhammad bin Tughlaq; traveled east toward China (1341); his Rihla describes cosmopolitan Calicut harbor filled with Chinese junks, Arab dhows, and Indian traders

Chola Naval Expedition of 1025 CE — the only pre-modern Indian ocean power projection:

UPSC synthesis: Indian Ocean Trade = GS1 Medieval History + GS1 Geography. Key exam facts: Southwest monsoon = June–September = ships go Arabia → India; northeast monsoon = November–February = India → Arabia; two routes = West (India → Aden/Hormuz → East Africa) + East (India → Strait of Malacca → China); Strait of Malacca = critical chokepoint; Chola naval expedition = 1025 CE = Rajendra Chola I = against Srivijaya = broke Malacca toll = title "Kadaram Kondan"; Zheng He = 7 voyages (1405–1433) = 317 ships = reached Calicut + Hormuz + East Africa = Ming dynasty; Gujarati Baniyas = largest Indian Ocean trading community; India exported textiles (largest); imported gold + silver + horses; Ibn Battuta traveled ~120,000 km. Prelims trap: Hippalus systematized the direct crossing for Greek-Roman traders (Indian and Arab sailors used monsoon navigation BEFORE him — Hippalus did NOT discover the monsoon); Zheng He's voyages = diplomatic-commercial (NOT colonizing expeditions); Chola expedition = 1025 CE = Rajendra Chola I (NOT Rajaraja I — Rajaraja I built Thanjavur temple; Rajendra I built Gangaikondacholapuram + conducted the naval expedition); Srivijaya was in Sumatra (modern Indonesia) NOT Sri Lanka.

[Additional] Indian Textile Deindustrialisation — Calico Acts, Tariff Asymmetry, Dacca Muslin, and Gandhi's Khadi (GS1 — Modern History / GS3 — Indian Economy):

India's pre-British economic dominance (Angus Maddison data):

India held approximately 25% of global textile trade in the early 18th century; Bengal alone accounted for over 50% of Asian textiles imported by the Dutch East India Company.

British protectionist policies against Indian textiles:

The tariff asymmetry — summary:

Despite Britain's industrial head-start, Indian silk and cotton could still be sold in British markets at 50–60% lower prices than British equivalents — which is precisely why such extreme tariffs were required to shut them out.

Dacca (Dhaka) Muslin — the finest textile in history:

The "thumb-cutting" claim — historiographical note: The claim that the British ordered the thumbs of Dacca weavers to be cut off is widely circulated but not supported by primary source documentation. Historians' consensus is that the destruction was economic — punitive tariffs, forced pricing contracts, and machine competition — not systematic physical mutilation. The economic causes are well-documented; the thumb-cutting is apocryphal and should be treated as such.

How Manchester machines undercut Indian handlooms:

• Arkwright's water frame (1769) + Watt's steam engine improvements (from 1782) + Cartwright's power loom (1785) → mass production at a fraction of hand-weaving costs
• Indian handloom weavers — even highly skilled ones — could not compete on price once Indian goods faced 85% British tariffs AND British goods entered India at only 3.5%

Indian weavers' fate — three paths:

1. Abandonment of craft, migration to agriculture — deepened rural poverty and overcrowding
2. Shift to coarser low-margin cloth not yet targeted by machines
3. Craft death — skill dying within a generation as children not trained

Gandhi's Khadi movement as the political response:

UPSC synthesis: Deindustrialisation = GS1 Modern History + GS3 Indian Economy. Key exam facts: India's world GDP share = ~24.4% (1700) falling to ~4.2% (1950); manufacturing = ~25% (1750) falling to ~2% (1900) (Angus Maddison data); Calico Acts = 1701 (import ban) + 1721 (wearing ban); Indian textiles entering Britain = 85% tariff; British textiles entering India = ~3.5% tariff (Charter Act 1813); Charter Act 1813 = ended EIC's Britain-India trade monopoly = opened India as captive market; Dacca muslin = 300-count yarn + ~11 g/sq yard + phuti karpas endemic to Meghna delta = grades: Baft Hawa + Shabnam + Ab-i-ravan = commercially extinct by ~1800 = phuti karpas plant itself extinct in early 20th century; Swadeshi movement = 7 August 1905 (Calcutta); Gandhi khadi = 1918 + foreign cloth burning = 31 July 1921. Prelims trap: Charter Act = 1813 (NOT 1833 — the 1833 Charter Act further restricted EIC but the key deindustrialisation trigger was 1813); Calico Acts = 1701 + 1721 (two separate acts, NOT one single "Calico Act"); the thumb-cutting story = apocryphal (not supported by primary sources — economic causes are the documented mechanism); India's share of world GDP was approximately 24.4% in 1700 (NOT 10% or 30% — the 24.4% Maddison figure is the UPSC-relevant reference).