ABSTRACT

By the beginning of the eighteenth century European merchants had been trading directly in Asia for over two hundred years. The Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, and French had all established permanent footholds and become recognized communities within the Asian trading world. European mercantile settlements were well ensconced in port cities like Surat, Hooghly, Cochin, Bantam, Canton, and Nagasaki. In addition, Goa, Macao, Bombay, and Batavia had been developed as European forts and factories. Mughal and Chinese officials welcomed the massive influx of gold and particularly silver brought by European commerce, since bullion was becoming vital for their steadily monetarizing revenue systems. European demand for Asian goods and the substantial European involvement in the country trade quickened economic life in Bengal, along the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of India, and in the Canton delta, redounding to the benefit of artisans, sailors, farmers, and merchants. 1