TRADE AND GLOBALISATION: Europeans, Americans and Indians in the Bay of Bengal (1511–1819)

This book aims in the first place to examine the tradition of foreign trade in the Bay of Bengal and the social responsibility of businessmen. It explores how overseas trade was organised and the merchant associations functioned in the region. The second objective is to probe into the historical roots of globalisation, the extent to which India (the Bay of Bengal) has been incorporated in the global system and the progress made in the development path with the element of reciprocity in this process. It argues that the Bay of Bengal did not remain external to the modern world system, against the theory of Immanuel Wallerstein. The study finds that globalisation shaped the Bay of Bengal like any other trading zone. Some important questions that have been raised and answered are: Did the Bay of Bengal have a role to play in globalisation to resolve the needs of the people of India? Did such a thing really happen, and if not, what were the reasons? The book also attempts to study the distinctive features of globalisation like the emergence of new markets, new rules, new tools and new actors in the trade of the Bay of Bengal between 1500 and 1800, besides analysing the role of the state in protecting maritime trade from the unfair means of the foreigners.