Merchants, Markets, and Hinterlands in Early Modern India

The early modern period witnessed a great expansion in the world economy. At this time, the Indian subcontinent was integrated into this wider system and became a hub for commerce. The connection of the hinterland with ports, which were linked to Indian Ocean trade networks, existed prior to the coming of European maritime powers. Thus, when European traders reached India, they stepped into a pre-existing framework of trade routes and complex multilateral networks of exchange. The resultant consequences of this incursion have been understood from different viewpoints in Merchants, Markets, and Hinterlands in Early Modern India.

Merchants, both Asian and European, flooded the markets and ports of India, which acted as gateways leading both to the interior and to the sea. The chapters in this volume explore the worlds of commerce, the links between markers and hinterlands, and the many connections that existed, expanded, or ceased in the early modern period.