Based on the author's thesis, University of Michigan. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 161-173.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

Illustrations: 2 Maps Description: Mr. Pearson's discussion of the reaction of the rulers and merchants of Gujarat, in western India, to the trade-control measures imposed by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century makes two contributions to historical research. His analysis of the Portuguese attempt to control and tax Asian maritime trade provides the first comprehensive account of this policy. In addition, it makes clear how different the Portuguese impact on sixteenth-century India was from that of the Dutch and English in the next century. Mr. Pearson argues that the Gujarati response to Portuguese attempts to control their sea trade-basically one of acquiescence and of acceptance of Portuguese hegemony-cannot be explained solely on military or economic grounds. The powerful rulers of Gujarat could have exerted effective pressure on the Portuguese to end the system; they refrained from doing so because they did not consider that Portuguese activities threatened their interests. In the discrete political system that existed in medieval Gujarat communication between ruler and subjects was so slight that merchants could function autonomously and thus were free to accept Portuguese dominance of their maritime activities. These findings provide a fresh perspective on medieval Indian polity, and run counter to the accepted view of it as having been wholly autocratic or even despotic.

Socio - Cultural Life of Merchants in Mughal Gujarat by Monika Sharma focuses on the identification of the varied communities involved in commercial activities and maritime trade - Banias, Bohras. Parsis, Khojas, Memons, Ghanchis, Chalebis, Armenians and European during 16th-17th centuries. The project embraces life-style, traditions, festivals, institutions and the professional aspects of merchants life. The study explores the region of Gujarat its geographical layout, urban set-up, trade centres, cities, manufacturing centres, ports and trade routes. The living standards, viz. housing, system of education, entertainment, the status women, food habits, dresses, ornaments and other aspects of their daily life etc. are investigated in order to make a comparative study of the different cultures. The study intends to know about the religion, social activities, festivals, rituals, marriages, customs and mores followed. The present work entails the investigation of custom, rituals and mores related to society and religion of the various merchant communities. One can also discern the existing social evils like sati, polygamy and enforced widowhood. The focal point of the study is merchants-Mughal nexus too, which is vital to understand the benefits accrued by the merchant communities. In what manner the proximity with imperial court benefitted them and resulted in their social elevation. One of the objectives of this study would be contextualize the idea of money for different merchants, which is discussed in chapter six. How the various communities invested their money to acquire political and social advantages. The stable system of brokers, sarraf and sahukars, mahajan, and nagarsheth which sustained the community are also focussed.

How did the Kachchhi traders build on the Gujarat Advantage? In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during the dying days of the Mughal empire, merchants from Kachchh established a flourishing overseas trade. Building on a rich legacy of free trade in pre-modern times between the many ports of Gujarat and the Middle East, the Kachchhis dealt in pearls, dates, spices and ivory with the faraway lands of Muscat and Zanzibar. The Kachchhi merchants behaved much like today’s venture capitalists. They knew how to grow capital, seek new markets, and create them where they didn’t exist. They also had a phenomenal risk appetite. What they were able to practise was nothing less than the traits of globalization before its time. This new book in The Story of Indian Business series tells their fascinating story.

"Contains most of the papers read to the 7th section, part 2 of the XXXIst International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa held in Tokyo, Japan."--Pref.

This book demonstrates the central position of Gujarat in the historical trading economy of the Indian Ocean World. Over a period of two thousand years, Gujarati traders exchanged commodities with maritime merchants from Africa, Arabia, Southeast Asia, China, and Europe. The fifteen chapters in the book reflect this global history in sections organized under the headings of 'Historiography, Method, Sources' , 'Commodities', and 'Trading Networks andDiasporas'.

This book focuses on why Europe became the dominant economic force in global trade between 1450 and 1750.