science

Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century

Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century rather than just read about it. In short: When Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty conquered northern India in 1526, the wealth of the country already largely depended on foreign trade, exporting India's enormous production of many types of commodities, in particular textiles. These left India by land and by sea, the latter in relatively small ships making relatively short voyages from the east and west coasts, as they had done for centuries.

Key takeaways

Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

When Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty conquered northern India in 1526, the wealth of the country already largely depended on foreign trade, exporting India's enormous production of many types of commodities, in particular textiles. These left India by land and by sea, the latter in relatively small ships making relatively short voyages from the east and west coasts, as they had done for centuries. By the time Indian commodities reached Western Europe, normally after passing through several intermediary traders, they were enormously expensive. During the 17th century the Mughal Empire ruling nearly all the subcontinent was still a confident superpower with huge military strength. European countries wanted to access Indian goods, both processed natural products such as spices, and indigo dye, and manufactured products, above all textiles. The Europeans tried to interest the Indian market in European products with very little success, apart from a small demand for furs and luxury products such as clocks for India's royal courts. Europeans therefore needed to pay for their purchases with gold.

Attitude of the Mughal empire to the trade Contact between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire was put into practice at the very beginning of the 17th century. The Portuguese, English, and later on, the Dutch were the ones to trade with the Mughal Empire. As the first Islamic power on the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal empire was more interested in assimilating the land, studying the history, customs and religion of the people occupying this area, and communicating with the other two Islamic empires – the Safavid and the Ottoman Empires. The Mughal Empire had strong leaders, however, very different in approach and strategy. Akbar was known for his tolerance towards unorthodox Muslims and Hindus. The Akbarnama, a book written by Abu’l Fazl on the life and rule of Akbar, gives a lot of evidence on how Hinduism was viewed and explained by the Muslims. Along with being tolerant towards his Hindu and Muslim subjects, Akbar welcomed Portuguese Jesuits, which allowed Portugal to enter the trade with Indian goods. At the very end of his rule, the British, Dutch, and Portuguese started to trade with the Mughal Empire as well. Even though the trade started during the reign of Akbar the Great, his son Jahangir was the one to strengthen this economic activity in the Indian subcontinent.

Main agreements The English and Dutch were granted 21-year permission of monopoly in the “East Indies”, which was followed by the retorted answer from the Indian kings – they encouraged the establishment of coastal posts for trade. Half a century afterwards, the competition for trade in the Indian Ocean was increased by the establishment of the French East India Company in 1664. It followed Jean-Baptiste Colbert's doctrine of mercantilism that claimed to keep the national exports greater than the imports. As France's First Minister of State, he had enormous influence in directing this strategy. In his Memorandum on English Alliances and Memorandum to the King on Finances written in 1669 and 1670 respectively, Jean-Baptiste Colbert defended his theory and tried to figure out a way to undercut the Dutch trade. This document gave evidence of the strength of the Netherlands’ trade in the 17th century not only in India but also in the Caribbean. Moreover, it gave the precise numbers of the Dutch superiority over both the British and the French – 15,000 to 16,000 vessels per year versus 3,000 to 4,000 for the British and 500 to 600 for the French. The British managed to increase the trade in textiles to 22.7 million square meters over a period of just twenty years. They did that in the same year that France intervened in the Indian trade.

The implementation of trade on the local level in India and the various trading posts The trade in India was implemented mainly on the coast. During the 17th century there were two big Islamic empires between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire – the Safavid and the Ottoman Empires – their trade was implemented only by ships. Therefore, the main ports were on the coast of both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal with the small exception of Calcutta, located on the bank of the river Hooghly, yet still accessible by water. Bombay and Surat on the Arabian sea coast and Madras (today’s Chennai) or - as the British named it - Fort St. George, were the four main locations of Indo-European trade during the 17th century. Trade as a tool for the Early World globalization was very prosperous and profitable for both the European and the Indian merchants. The sudden and completely unexpected collapse of Mughal power in a few years after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 led to a very different situation in the following century, as local rulers formed autonomous or semiautonomous states. Eventually the European trading companies took part in Indian political conflicts and processes; by 1800 the British East India Company had become the most powerful force in the sub-continent.

References

Andrea, Alfred J. and James H. Overfield. The Human Record: Sources Of Global History (selections from primary sources): Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. Chatterjee, Prasun. The Lives of Alcohol in Pre-colonial India: The Medieval History Journal 2005; 8; 189. “East India Company Factory Records”. Adam Matthew Publications Ltd. Pelham House, London Road, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2AA, England, East India Company Factory Records Keay, John, India, a History, 2000, HarperCollins, ISBN 0002557177 Worlds Entangled: 1600-1750. 21, 22.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century

In research: Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 17th century in Europe, 17th century in India, 17th century in the Mughal Empire, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century in simple terms?

Why does Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century.