Introduction: It is common knowledge that the opening of the discovery of the direct maritime route from European to Asis/ India round the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco da Gama in 1498 brought abut an integration of trade on a global scale in the early modern era. this is the period when India was gradually incorporated into the capitalistic world system trough oceanic trade with Europe. Encouraged by the enormous profit up to the extent between 1000 to 2000 % through export of spies from Indonesian archipelago in the sixteenth century, some of the Northern Europeans too formed joint- stock companies in the early seventeenth century, prominent among them being the English East India Company and the Dutch East India company with objective of trade with the East.
The flow of silver from the "New World " of America discovered by Columbus and subsequently the silver mines in the South America rendered the trade between Europe and Asia much easier. A part of silver which entered Europe from America was used in commerce with Asia. This, along with the silver that came from Japan, enhanced the purchasing power of the Europeans who were in an advantageous position to procure export commodities for European markets.
Beside the Dutch and the English Companies, some other European Companies also joined the fray eventually. The French East India Company was founded later on & it began its operation in Bengal in the 1680s. It was only in the early years of the eighteenth century that the other companies like the Ostend, the Prussia and the Danish.
However, it was the Dutch & English company who were the most active in the export trade from Bengal in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Early Ventures: At the beginning, both the Dutch & English companies were mainly interested in procuring spices in the so called "spice islands" in the Indonesian archipelago, namely Sumatra, Java, Borneo and nearby islands in search of spice which they thought could be procured in lieu of silver brought form Europe.
They had turn to India for procuring cheap textiles suitable for the Spice Islands. In India, the companies turned to Coromandel where cheap calico was to be found in plenty. But unfortunately for them, the coromandel trade had to be abandoned when it became uncertain & quite expensive because of the chronic wars, families and political instability in the Coromandel. so far bengal had never been in their plan of things. However, they turned their attention to the province on realizing that trade in Bengal had certain advantages. It was not only the largest producer of cheap cotton piece goods, but also of high quality ad inexpensive raw silk which was in great demand in Europe, replacing the Persian and Italian silk. Not only that, a third lucrative export commodity for the Companies could be the Bengal saltpetre which was an essential ingredient for making gunpowder that was in great demand in Europe due to the chronic civil wars. Bengal saltpetre was of the best quality in low price compared to other varieties available in the world market.
The English & Dutch companies decided to engage in Bengal trade and established their respective factories in Bengal in the early 1650s. Incidentally both the companies were established in the same region: the English in Hughli, which was the premier port of Bengal in the seventeenth century and the Dutch in Chinsuarah. but the export trade to Europe by the companies was of little significance until the 1670s when there was a sudden expansion of the European export of bengal raw silk, which received a further boost in the 1780s because of the high demand for the commodity in Europe.
It is interesting to note here that the Asian trade of the European companies which began as bilateral trade between Europe and the Spice Islands changed it character completely and soon became triangular between Europe, India and the spice islands. But ultimately it became bilateral again mainly between Europe and Bengal with the marked difference that from around the 1680s, Bengal emerged as the chief partner of the Asiatic trade of the European Companies.
Companies & Bengal's External trade: The major export commodities sent to Europe by the companies were mainly textiles, raw silk, saltpetre and opium. But, undoubtedly, textiles and raw silk were the most significant volume wise and value wise, the rest were nominal. Textile was the major component exports to Europe. It was especially the marked that form around the 1680s, Bengal emerged as the chief partner of the Asiatic trade of the European companies. As such, by the beginning of the eighteenth century, Bengal supplied 40% of average annual value of the Asian commodities that the Dutch company sent to Holland.
The reason for cheapness and fine quality of Bengal piece goods was that both labour and provision were much cheaper in bengal than anywhere else and the bengal artisans and manufactures had a long tradition of high skill in weaving both fine and ordinary textiles. The phenomenal increase in demand from Europe can only be explained by the revolutionary change in the consumer taste in contemporary European society during the period. The Indigenes is well reflected in the contemporary European literature of the time when the fashion rather than the cheapness of Bengal textiles worked as an active economic factor behind the sudden great demand for Bengal textiles from Europe is revealed in several pamphlets of the time.
Actual Exports from Bengal by the Companies: Of the two companies, The Dutch had a definite lead over the English in the export of Bengal textiles to Europe from the middle of the seventeenth up to the first decade of the eighteenth century. The position changed somewhat in the second decade of the eighteenth century when the English established the lead in the period from 1710-11 to 1713-14 while in the next quadrennial period, 1714-15 to 1717-18, the share of the two companies were almost equal. The actual export of the companies to Europe is concerned, if the total number of textile pieces exported from Bengal is any indication, then the English had a define lead over the Dutch from the 1730s. and this trend was maintained through the second half of the seventeenth and the first decade of the eighteenth century. over, this trend was completely reversed in the mid eighteenth century.
The Dutch exports showed a stead increase culminating in the 1750s when the wide gap with the English exports was greatly reduced. This was actually because of the face that, while the Dutch exports increased gradually, those of the English shrank dramatically in the 1750 so much so that the English export then declined to about ...
Comments
Post a Comment