Companies Commerce and Merchants: Bengal in the Pre-Colonial Era

This anthology vastly expands our understanding of the much-misconstructed history of early modern Bengal. The original forays in Bengal’s economic history illuminate the state of prosperity in Bengal in the pre-colonial era. Together they seek to redress the misconception that economic decline in Bengal set in even before the British conquest of Bengal. Based on original sources in the European and Indian archives and libraries, most of the essays in the book underscores that Bengal had a prosperous economy even in the mid-eighteenth century. The period is extremely significant inasmuch as it witnessed the advent of the European trading companies and the vital role they played subsequently in the economy and politics of Bengal.

The main thread that runs throughout this discourse is the state of Bengal’s commercial economy during the pre-colonial era. In the process, a critical analysis has been made of the of the position of different industries like textile, silk, saltpeter and opium, etc.

The essays here establish the fact that it was the Asian merchants, and not the Europeans, who were the major exporters and as such, it was the Asians, and not the Europeans, who were the major importers of bullion into Bengal during the period. Finally, the volume will emphasize, contrary to what was been held so far by most historians of the period, that there was no crisis either in Bengal politics or in Bengal economy even in the mid-eighteenth century. The book will be of immense importance to scholars and students of history and economics. (jacket)