On the Economic Encounter Between Asia and Europe, 1500-1800 (Variorum Collected Studies)

The history of the economic contacts between Asia and Europe dates back to at least the early years of the Common Era. But it was only after the overcoming of the transport technology barrier to the growth of trade between the two continents following the discovery by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century of the all-water route to the East Indies that these contacts became regular and quantitatively significant. The Portuguese were joined at the beginning of the 17th century by the Dutch and the English East India companies. The Europeans operated in the Indian Ocean alongside the Indian and other Asian merchants with no special privileges being available to them. The present collection of essays by Professor Om Prakash first deals with the Indian merchants’ participation in the Indian Ocean trade on the eve of the Europeans’ arrival in the Ocean. The subsequent essays include a discussion of the Portuguese involvement in the Euro-Asian and the Indian Ocean trade. Attention is then turned to the trading activities of the Dutch and the English East India companies. The volume also contains essays on textile manufacturing and trade as well as on coinage and wages in India. The concluding essay deals with trade and politics in the province of Bengal. Cover 1 Series 3 Half Title 4 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 Contents 10 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction 14 EURO-ASIAN ENCOUNTER 20 I Euro-Asian encounter in the Early Modern period 20 INDIA IN THE INDIAN OCEAN TRADE 74 II India in the Indian Ocean trading network on the eve of the Europeans’ arrival in the Asian seas 74 EUROPEAN TRADING ENTERPRISES 86 (a) The Portuguese 86 III Asian merchants and the Portuguese trade in Asia 86 IV The economic dimension of the Portuguese enterprise in Asia 98 V Cooperation and conflict among European traders in the Indian Ocean in the late eighteenth century 116 (b) The Dutch 134 VI Financing the European trade with Asia in the early modem period: Dutch initiatives and innovations 134 VII Seventeenth-century India as seen by the Dutch 160 (c) The English 176 VIII The English East India Company and India 176 (d) The Dutch and the English 194 IX Alternative trading strategies: the Dutch and the English East India Companies in Asia, 1600-1650 194 EUROPEAN PRIVATE TRADERS 204 X European private traders in the eastern Indian Ocean trading network in the Early Modern period 204 XI English private trade in the western Indian Ocean, 1720-1740 228 TEXTILE MANUFACTURING AND TRADE 248 XII Bengal textiles in seventeenth century international trade 248 XIII From negotiation to coercion: textile manufacturing in India in the eighteenth century 260 LONG DISTANCE TRADE, COINAGE AND WAGES 298 XIV Long distance trade, coinage and wages in India, 1600-1960 298 TRADE AND POLITICS IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BENGAL 326 XV Trade and politics in eighteenth-century Bengal 326 Index 350 Economic contact between Asia and Europe dates back to at least the early years of the Common Era, but it was only in the fifteenth-century, when the Portuguese discovered the all-water route to the East Indies, that this contact became regular and significant. This collection deals with the Indian Ocean trade on the eve of the Europeans' arrival. Om Prakash. Studies Collected Here Retain The Pagination Used When Originally Published. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.