The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama (Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society, Series Number 6)

Claude Markovits tells the story of two groups of Hindu merchants from the towns of Shikarpur and Hyderabad in the province of Sind. Basing his account on previously neglected archival sources, the author charts the development of these communities, from the pre-colonial period through colonial conquest and up to independence, describing how they came to control trading networks throughout the world. While the book focuses on the trade of goods, money and information from Sind to the widely dispersed locations of Kobe, Panama, Bukhara and Cairo, it also throws light on the nature of trading diasporas from South Asia in their interaction with the global economy. This is a sophisticated and accessible book, written by one of the most distinguished economic historians in the field. It will appeal to scholars of South Asia, as well as to colonial historians and to students of religion. Frontmatter List of maps (page viii) List of tables (page ix) Acknowledgments (page x) Glossary (page xii) Introduction (page 1) 1 South Asian merchant networks (page 10) 2 The regional context: Sind economy and society, c. 1750-1950 (page 32) 3 The Gate of Khorrassan: the Shikarpuri network, c. 1750-1947 (page 57) 4 From Kobe to Panama: the Sindworkies of Hyderabad (page 110) 5 Patterns of circulation and business organization in two merchant networks (page 156) 6 The business of the Sind merchants (page 185) 7 The politics of merchant networks (page 212) 8 Community and gender in two merchant networks (page 249) 9 Epilogue: the Sindhi diaspora after 1947 (page 277) Conclusion (page 286) Appendices (page 298) Bibliography (page 307) Index (page 320) Annotation Claude Markovits' book charts the development of two merchant communities in the province of Sind from the precolonial period, through colonial conquest and up to indepedence. Based on previously neglected archival sources, it describes how the communities came to control trading networks throughout the world, throwing light on the nature of these diasporas from South Asia in their interaction with the global economy. This is a sophisticated and accessible book that will appeal to students of South Asia, as well as to colonial historians and economic historians The book charts the development of merchant communities in the province of Sind from the pre-colonial period, throught colonial conquest, to independence. Describing how they came to negotiate trade throughout the world, the book throws light on the nature of these diasporas in their interaction with the global economy. For many centuries, colonies of South Asian merchants were present in many ports of the Indian Ocean and of the China seas.