WBBSE Class 7 History Chapter 6 Town Traders And Trade Introduction
During the Sultanate and Mughal period, some of the Indian villages and towns or cities were centres of economic exchange, some were centres of trade and commerce.
Some important Indian cities of medieval period were-Pandua, Gauda, Nabadwip and Chittagong of Bengal; Lahore in Punjab; Agra in North India; Fatehpur Sikri; Burhanpur; Golconda and Bijapur in the Deccan and Ahmedabad, Surat, etc. in the West.
Delhi was the most significant among the medieval Indian cities. The city was built during the reign of Qutbuddin Aibak.
The growth and development of Delhi had two phases. The first was Delhi in the 13th/ 14th century; and the second was Shajahanabad built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century.
The city of Baghdad, a big centre of the Muslim civilization, was destroyed by the Mongols and this increased Delhi’s importance as a city. In the 350 years of Sultanate rule, Delhi was the administrative centre for about 300 years.
Shahjahanabad was built by Shah Jahan on the western bank of the river Yamuna. The two main architectural monuments of this city are Red Fort and Jama Masjid. People of various classes lived here irrespective of their economic status.
- One of the most notable characteristics of Delhi was its cosmopolitan population. The main problem of the city was scarcity of water.
- From the 13th century to the 18th century, trade and commerce flourished in India. Not only Indian traders of different regions, but also foreign merchants used to trade in India.
- In medieval India, generally internal trade was of two types. First, rural and urban trade; and second, trade between two cities.
- Communication system Improved significantly in this period. Roadside inns were built for the travellers. The traders and travellers used to take rest there with their goods.
The Delhi sultans introduced two types of coins named ‘Tanka’ and ‘Jital’. These were of considerable value.
Indian commodities were in demand in the neighboring countries of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, the Persian Sea and
- Trade relation with central and west Asia was conducted overland. Multan was the trade center.
- In the medieval India, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Allahabad and Lahore were well fortified and secure cities.
- The Indian trade world consisted of merchant, Saraf and Dalal. Insurance was added to this.
- In the medieval period, Gujrati, Tamil, Telegu, Oriya, Bengali and Malabarese merchants among the Hindu-Muslim and Jain merchants, earned a name for themselves in the sea-trading world.
- In the 15th-16th centuries, the Europeans set out on a mission of naval expedition. Vasco da Gama, the emissary of the king of Portugal, reached Calicut of India in 1498.