Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600}}}1750 [Hardcover]

This 1994 book assesses the economic significance of Indian, mercantile communities trading in Iran, Central Asia and Russia.Stephen Dale analyses the economic significance of the Indian, non-Muslim mercantile community which traded in Iran, Central Asian and Russia in the early modern era. The author makes use of Russian material, hitherto largely ignored, to higlight the importance of these communities, and to challenge the conventional view of world economic history that European merchants overwhelmed their Asian counterparts. Insight is offered into the social characteristics of an expatriate community in the Volga-Caspian port of Astrakhan.Stephen Dale analyses the economic significance of the Indian, non-Muslim mercantile community which traded in Iran, Central Asian and Russia in the early modern era. The author makes use of Russian material, hitherto largely ignored, to higlight the importance of these communities, and to challenge the conventional view of world economic history that European merchants overwhelmed their Asian counterparts. Insight is offered into the social characteristics of an expatriate community in the Volga-Caspian port of Astrakhan.This is a study of the activities and economic significance of the Indian merchant communities that traded in Iran, Central Asia and Russia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their role within the hegemonic trade diaspora of the period. The author has made use of Russian material, hitherto largely ignored, to highlight the importance of these mercantile communities, and to challenge the conventional view of world economic history in the early modern era. The book not only demonstrates the vitality of Indian mercantile capitalism at the time, but also offers a unique insight into the social characteristics of an expatriate community in the Volga-Caspian port of Astrakhan.l. An Indian world economy; 2. India, Iran and Turan in 1600; 3. The Indian diaspora in Iran and Turan; 4. Indo-Russian commerlS.