Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | Feb 2013 • ISSN No 2277 - 8179

Research Paper

History
India’s Overseas Trade in the Early KEYWORDS : India’s Overseas Trade in the
East and West; India’s Overseas Trade with the
Medieval Period Persian Gulf, Arabia and East Africa; India’s
Overseas Trade with South-East and East Asia.

Dr. Jagadeesh Asst.Professor in History, Karnatak University’s Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad-580001
Kivudanavar Karnataka-India

ABSTRACT Ancient Indian merchants, traders and men engrossed in commercial pursuits. Manusmriti refers to sea
borne traffic as well as inland and overland commerce. India, according to Chamber's Encyclopedia, "has been
celebrated during many ages for its valuable natural productions, its beautiful manufactures and costly merchandise," was, says the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, and describes it as seat of commerce. In the early medieval period, India had a rich trade relations with
neighbouring and western countries. The exports and imports consisted of precious stones, gold, silver, cloths and commodities.

Introduction Cambay cotton cloths, saffron, coral, quicksilver, cinnabar, gold

There was a time in the past, when Indians were the masters of and silver. The high profit of this trade is illustrated by the fact
the sea borne trade of Europe, Asia and Africa. They built ships, that the elephants were sold in Malabar and Coromandel at the
navigated the sea, and held in their hands all the threads of in- rate of 400 or 500 (rising up to 1000 or 1500) Portuguese gold
ternational commerce, whether carried on overland or sea. In coins, while gold and silver fetched more than their worth else-
Sanskrit books we constantly read of merchants, traders and where. The coastal trade of Coromandel and the Vijayanagara
men engrossed in commercial pursuits. Manu Smriti, the oldest kingdom was carried by Hindu and Muslim merchants from Ma-
law book in the world, lays down laws to govern commercial labar and imports consisting of areca-nuts, cocoa-nuts, horses
disputes having references to sea borne traffic as well as in- etc., and the exports comprising rice and cloth. In the case of
land and overland commerce. From the earliest time India has Coromandel, even children sold into slavery by their parents in
an enormous trade links with Asia and western countries. This times of famine. Muslim ships in large numbers visited Pulicat,
glory of Indian overseas trade even continued in the medieval the great market for Burmese rubies and musk. The famous
and modern period. Many of foreign visitors give accounts on muslins of Bengal, along with good white cane-sugar, was ex-
India’s trade as follows. ported by the Muslim mer­chants in their own ships to Malabar,
Cambay and other tracts, the price of these goods in Malabar
Medieval India’s Arab traveller Ibn Batuta (1333-46) found being sufficiently high to be noted carefully by the Portuguese
great cities with rich markets in the north and south. In another writers. (Sewell, 1985, p, 252 )
context the same writer while describing the magnificent port
of Alexandria in Egypt, observes that he has not seen its equal India’s Overseas Trade with the Persian Gulf, Arabia and
in the universe, if exception is made in the case of Quilon and East Africa
Calicut in Malabar, Sudak in the Crimea, and Zaytun in China. The vast overseas trade of India with Western Asia flowed dur-
The rich sea ports of Gujarat, Deccan Malabar and Bengal are ing this period. The merchandise was carried along the Persian
described by the Portuguese writer Barbosa as handling an ex- Gulf and thence overland through Mesopotamia to the Mediter-
tensive trade (inland, coastal and overseas) in the remarkable ranean coast, and also by the sea-route to the Red Sea ports, and
variety of merchandise. In the city of Vijayanagar, because of its then, Western Europe by the Venetian and other Italian mer-
large size and huge population, its rich bazaars (markets), the chants. In the latter part, Ormuz became the grand emporium of
number of its skilled craftsmen, and dealers in precious stones the trade by the former route, while Aden and Jiddah were the
as well as other articles, impressed profoundly a succession of two great emporia of the trade by the latter route. In the early
foreign visitors. One of these, the Portuguese traveller Domin- part of the fourteenth century, as we learn from Ibn Batutah,
go Paes, describes its heavy traffic and busy markets. (Sewell, Ormuz was the entrepot of the trade of Hind and Sind, the mer-
1985, p, 237). chandise of India being carried thence to the two Iraqs, Fars and
Khurasan. From Indian coast her great ships arriving to Aden.
The trade in Indian coastal ports, from the detailed narrative of (Mahalingam, 1940, p,225). Merchants of Fars and Yemen, as
Ibn Batutah, it appears that the Western coast of India was stud- told by Ibn Batutah, disem­barked mostly at the port of Manga-
ded with a large number of sea-ports , excellent harbours and lore, and Chinese ships bound for India entered only the ports of
exten­sive trade. Among these ports Diu, Goa, Calicut, Cochin, Ely (Hili), Calicut, and Quilon. In the work of Barbosa we have a
and Quilon gained more prominence. The highly profitable di- valuable report of India’s maritime commerce with the Western
rect trade between Gujarat and Malabar was almost completely world in the beginning of the sixteenth century. We learn that an
monopolized by the Malabari merchants. In the fullest list of extensive and highly profitable trade was borne between the In-
im­ports from Malabar are included cocoa-nuts, cardamoms and dian ports, Diu, Chaul, Dabhol, Goa, Bhatkal, Calicut and so forth,
other spices, emery, wax and iron, sugar from Bhatkal, sandal- on the one side, and those of Arabia and Persia, such as Jiddah,
wood and brazil-wood, silks and other articles (from south-east Aden, Esh-Shihr and Ormuz, on the other. In a comprehensive
Asia and China). The exports consisted mainly of cotton, cloth, list of imports from India into Ormuz are included pepper,
wheat and other grains, horses, and carnelians. The coastal cloves, ginger and cardamoms, sandal-wood and brazil-wood,
trade of the Deccan ports ap­pears to have been shared by both saffron, indigo, etc., from Cambay, Chaul and Dabhol, as well as
Gujarati and Malabari merchants. The former imported silk and Bengal muslins. The exports carried to India on the return voy-
cotton cloth, opium and common silk camlets, wheat, and gin- age are said to have consisted of Arabian horses (to the number
gelly, horses, and they exported cotton and linen fabrics. The of one thousand to two thousand) and other things. For while
latter imported spices and drugs, areca-nuts and cocoa-nuts, ships from Cambay brought to it cotton cloth in ‘astonishing
palm-sugar, wax and emery, copper and quicksilver, and they quantities’ as well as drugs, gems, seed-pearls and carnelians
exported cotton goods, wheat, rice, millet, gin­gelly oil, muslins, in abundance, and carried back madder, opium, cop­per, quick-
and calicoes. In the Tulu region, the Malabar merchants im- silver, vermilion, gold other things, those from eastern coast of
ported cocoa-nuts, spices, palm-sugar, palm-wine, and exported imported commodities etc. The Muslim merchants of Cambay,
rice, iron, and variety of sugar. The trade of the neighbouring Chaul, Dabhol, Bhatkal and Malabar imported cotton cloths, in-
island of Ceylon appears to have been largely controlled by the ferior gems, rice, sugar, and spices into the neighbouring Arabi-
Indians. Merchants from Coromandel, Malabar and from the Vi- an port. Ships from Cambay carried to Aden, Mecca and Ormuz
jayanagara, Deccan, and Gujarat kingdoms are described as vis- cotton and linen cloths, large carpets, coloured cloth as well as
iting the island and Colombo. The imports consisted of very fine spices, and brought back coral, quicksilver, vermilion, lead, gold

170 IJSR - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Research Paper Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | Feb 2013 • ISSN No 2277 - 8179
and silver, madder, rose-water and saffron, as well as opium of peror Yung-Lo (1403-24), culminating in a succession of seven
superior quality (Ibn Batutah, II, 1853, pp, 112-117). Merchants such expeditions led by the eunuch Cheng-ho during and after
from Ormuz brought horses in large numbers to Goa. Rice was his lifetime (between A.D. 1405 and 1433). In the early part of
exported from Barakur to Ormuz, Aden and Esh-Shihr. The for- the fourteenth century, and regular voyages were made by Chi-
eign Muslim merchants of Calicut made their great annual voy- nese ships to the three Malabar ports. The Chinese imports into
ages (from February down to the middle of August, September the Indian ports followed a set pattern, the merchants bringing
and October of the same year), in their fleet; of ten to twelve silks, coloured taffetas and satins, cloves and nutmegs, blue and
ships, to Aden as well as the Red Sea ports and back. In the list of white porcelain, gold, silver etc., for exchange with the Indian
India’s imports mentioned so far, rose-water and frankincense, pro­ducts. Barbosa quoted Malacca, estab­lished as an independ-
and above all horses, are especially stated to be the products ent Muslim State in the fifteenth century A.D., was the great in-
of Arabia. Other merchandise like copper, vermilion, woollen ternational port of south-east Asia at that time. It contained a
and silken cloths etc., found at Jiddah and Aden for the Indian colony of wholesale merchants (Hindu and Muslim) who owned
market were doubtless imported from Europe in return for the large estates and great ships. The list of its imports (evidently
Indian merchan­dise, which was carried via Suez and Cairo to Al- from India) included pepper, incense, saffron, etc., from Bengal,
exandria for distribution by the Italian merchants over the rest and some goods from Gujarat to South East Asia. Some of these
of the European world (Ibn Batutah, II,1853, 130-145). were carried to the islands of Java, Sumatra, the Moluccas, Ti-
mor, Banda, and Borneo. The imports brought there every year
India’s early trade was fostered by the chain of Arab settlements in Muslim ships, evidently from India. The above account may
on the African coast like those of Zeila, Makdashau, Mombasa be supplemented by Barbosa’s notice of the east Asiatic trade
and Kilwa, visited by Ibn Batutah in the beginning of the four- of individual Indian ports. Merchants sailed as far as Pegu, Mar-
teenth century, and, in part, by the Chinese imperial missions taban, Tenasserim and Sumatra, trading in spices and drugs,
under Cheng-ho, in the early part of the fifteenth century. Bar- silks, musk, benzoin, porcelain, and other merchandise. Mer-
bosa gives detailed account on this trade. Many ships from the chants from Quilon as well as ‘the city of Bengal’ likewise sailed
kingdom of Cambay (Gujarat), visited Makdashau with plenty of in their own ships to Pegu, Malacca, and Sumatra (Barbosa, I,
cloths and spices and returned with rich cargoes of gold, ivory 1921, p,108).
and wax. Cambay cloths and beads were exported by Gujarati
merchants in large ships. The enormous profit of this trade is il- Conclusion-
lustrated by certain figures. The Cambay cloths were exchanged During the early medieval period India had an extensive trade
at the three African ports for gold at a sufficiently attractive links with the different parts of the world. Hence she became
price, and when they were carried to Sofala, they were ex- hub for foreign trade. Earlier the Muslims had their control on
changed for gold without weighing. The African ivory was sold India’s trade and later who set aside by the Portuguese. Gujarat,
in the kingdom of Gujarat at the rate of five or six gold coins in Goa, Calicut, Cochin, Quilon etc., described as important ports
Portuguese currency for about one hundred and twelve pounds and these were very much helpful to India to open her doors
in English weight (Barbosa, I, 1921, p,137 ). for foreigners. In Vijayanagara, the complete freedom of travel
and ownership granted by the kings without enquiry whether
India’s Overseas Trade with South-East and East Asia he was a Christian, Jew, Moor or Heathen, as well as the great
The direct trade established by the Chinese with India during equality and justice shown to all by the ruler and his subjects,
the twelfth century appears to have been continued and devel- drew an enormous number of merchants to the city. Thus, In-
oped during this period. It received a great impetus through the dia’s foreign trade has rich heritage from the early days.
series of maritime expeditions fitted out by the Chinese Em-

REFERENCE 1. Barbosa, Duarte, (1921), The Book of Duarte Barbosa, English translation by Mansel Longwarth Dames,
2 Vols, London. | 2. Ibna Batutah, (1858), Complete translation in French, By,Defremery C, and Sanguonetti ,
B.R, 2 Vols, Paris | 3. Mahalingam,T.V, (1940), Administration and Social Life Under Vijayanagara, Madras | 4. Sewell Robert, (1985), A
Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagara, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi.

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