An Economic History of India 1707–1857

Description

This new edition of An Economic History of Early Modern India extends the timespan of the analysis to incorporate further research. This allows for a more detailed discussion of the rise of the British Empire in South Asia and gives a fuller context for the historiography. In the years between the death of the emperor Aurangzeb (1707) and the Great Rebellion (1857), the Mughal Empire and the states that rose from its ashes declined in wealth and power, and a British Empire emerged in South Asia. This book asks three key questions about the transition. Why did it happen? What did it mean? How did it shape economic change? The book shows that during these years, a merchant-friendly regime among warlord-ruled states emerged and state structure transformed to allow taxes and military capacity to be held by one central power, the British East India Company. The author demonstrates that the fall of warlord-ruled states and the empowerment of the merchant, in consequence, shaped the course of Indian and world economic history. Reconstructing South Asia’s transition, starting with the Mughal Empire’s collapse and ending with the great rebellion of 1857, this book is the first systematic account of the economic history of early modern India. It is an essential reference for students and scholars of Economics and South Asian History. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables List of maps Preface Chapter 1: Introduction The emergence of British rule in India Saviours or villains? The shifting alliance theory The superior force theory The fiscal capacity theory The new economy Who gained? Chapter outline Notes Chapter 2: State formation The precolonial state Awadh and Rohilkhand Bengal The Maratha dominion Hyderabad Mysore and Tanjore Malabar and Travancore Gujarat and Rajputana Punjab Assam Sind The last round of annexations Conclusion Notes Chapter 3: State consolidation The decline of the East India Company as a business Building the fiscal foundations of the state Military build-up Reform of property right Internal trade: Decline and revival Public goods in British India Princely states Conclusion Notes Chapter 4: The agrarian order Geography The institutional setup before colonial rule: Landlords The institutional setup before colonialism: Peasants How institutions changed Eastern India Western India Northern and central India Southern India Conclusion Notes Chapter 5: Conditions of business The meaning of early-modern trade: incorporation or transformation? 1 The prehistory of the Indian Ocean trade Indian Ocean trade: the eighteenth century Private traders Indian Maritime Merchants Agents and associates Artisans Internal Overland Trade Banking, finance, and modern forms of agency Mobile transporters of southern India Conclusion Notes Chapter 6: Towns What was a town around 1700? The seventeenth century What do the numbers show? De-urbanization: Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Dhaka The emergence of regional capitals: Lucknow, Benares, Patna, Hyderabad, Pune The ports: Surat, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Karachi The morphology of the port town: one world, two worlds, many worlds? Market towns Conclusion Notes Chapter 7: Levels of living The wage studies Land yield Population and income Agriculture: expansion of trade and cultivation Conclusion Notes Chapter 8: The rebellion of 1857–58 An uneven historiography Source analysis Disaffection War supplies Conclusion Notes Chapter 9: Conclusion References Index