Commerce, Political Economy and Ecology in Northeast India: Assam, c. 18261905 [Hardcover]

Historically, commerce has existed in Assam in different forms. In the late medieval and early modern times, Assam had trading connections with neighbouring areas of Bhutan, Tibet, Bengal and Myanmar (Burma). This book is about the commercial activities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in and around Assam. It looks at colonial Assams economy, its traders, mercantile communities, riverine trade and transportation and bazaars and examines the use of resources by the colonial regime. The book also explores the unique ecology of the region and the role it played in defining Assams place in the global economy.

Rich in archival resources, this book fills a major gap in the historiography of Northeast India and will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of Northeast India, colonial history, economic history, trade and commerce, cultural history, Indian history, South Asian history and history in general.

Introduction: Conceptualising commerce, markets and merchants: The pre-colonial and the colonial

1 Capital in an age of monarchy: Trade in pre-colonial Assam

2 The political economy of early colonial Assam c. 182030

3 Ecology, riverine trade and transportation in the nineteenth century

4 The peripheral market: Expansion of bazaars in Assam c. 18261905

5 The traders of the empire: Mercantile communities in the nineteenth-century Assam

This book studies the commercial activities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in and around Assam.

Nabanita Sharma has a Ph.D. in history from Delhi University, India. She taught history at Satyawati College (Evening), Delhi University, from 2019 to 2023.