Globalization before Its Time: Kutchi traders

July 8, 2016 11:06 AM

The Arabian Sea has a special place in Indian business history. For centuries the cities and settlements on the Arabian Sea littoral traded with each other, exchanging Indian textiles for horse, armaments, pearls and ivory. In turn, some of the textiles were passed on to the Atlantic slave trade in Africa as a medium of exchange, or sent overland to European markets. Coastal merchants* indigenous to the region bordering the sea engaged in this business and developed sophisticated systems of banking and shipbuilding to support the mercantile enterprise. The Hindu and Muslim traders of Kachchh were examples of such groups of people. text via

*style note: view page after turning off the html for increased readability

posted by infini (7 comments total)

I wasn't able to load the image linked as "Arabian Sea littoral traded" above due to a Tripod "no direct linking" feature, but the image is available from this page: About the Discovery of the Ocean Route to India and loads fine if you don't click on the image link in the OP first.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:58 AM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

European trade with India actually dates all the way back to Imperial Rome, and African kingdoms along the Red and Arabian seas predate that. For anyone interested, check out The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean by Raoul McLaughlin. It's a decent telling of how trade beyond the borders of Rome's traditional allies and enemies affected the Mediterranean and Arabian economies.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:19 PM on July 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

yeah, here's links to much of the stuff that zombieflanders talks about. Raoul McLaughlin is a recognized name in this subject.
posted by infini at 12:42 PM on July 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I visited Kochi / Cochin in Kerala, India over the New Year, which is considerably south of Kachchh and about 4 hours south of Calicut but also an important trade / port area for India. To Europeans it's probably best known as the original burial place for Vasco da Gama, which is why it's a popular destination for Portuguese tourists.
posted by grimjeer at 4:52 PM on July 8, 2016

This is great, thanks. If you want to go even further back, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is weirdly fascinating and available online.
posted by scyllary at 8:19 PM on July 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Cool! IIRC, In an Antique Land touches on some of this.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:46 AM on July 9, 2016

"Against their action, aromas. Rooms, against chronicles.
Smaragdos, chrysolithos; De Gama wore stripped pants in Africa.
And "Mountains of the sea gave birth to troops";"

-Pound, Canto VII.

I'm oft to remind myself that Da Gama discovered absolutly nothing.
Calicut was the global trading center before Da Gama. As Patrick Smith relates: "A narrative thread emerged. Hindus, Arabs, Persians, Turks, Nestorians, Alexandrians, Abyssinians, Venetians, a few Chinese, a few Javanese-they had come and made of Calicut and the Malabar Coast the scene of a glorious syncretism."

He relates this as he was curious to see Da Gamas' landing spot which a few years back, some stiff ass euros wanted to celebrate the 500 anniversary of the landing. Needless to say dung was thrown on the already neglected site. What struck me is what his friend said to him.

"The idea was not to remember anything...it was to analyze, to understand. We wanted to try to remember"

"Remember what, John?"

"To remember ourselves"

Off the beaten track there. Stupendous post infini
posted by clavdivs at 10:10 PM on July 10, 2016 [1 favorite]