Question

Answer all questions given under the heading

Commerce

1. Mention the Major ports in the Asiatic trade in the seventeenth century.
2. What were the major export of India?
3. What was imported from China?
4. What were used to transfer money from one city to another?

Answer 1

1. In the seventeenth century, Surat in Gujarat, Masulipatnam in the Golkonda kingdom, Chittagong in Bengal, Pulicat (Pazhaverkadu), and Nagapatnam on the Coromandel Coast, and Calicut in Kerala were all major ports in Asiatic trade.
2. The major exports of India were textiles, pepper, precious and semi-precious gems – especially diamonds.
3. Silk, Chinese ceramics, gold, spices, aromatic woods, and camphor were major imports from China to India.
4. Bankers and money changers operated in all the big cities, and bills of exchange or hundis (similar to cheques or bank drafts) were used to transfer money from one city to another.