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unit-5-pre-colonial-and-colonial-india

Unit-5 Pre-Colonial And Colonial India

This unit attempts to deal with the economic changes brought about by British rule.

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Write five lines each on the state of agriculture, trade and industries in the pre-colonial period?

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Learning Pundits Content Team

Written on Apr 15, 2019 2:39:54 PM

  1. Agriculture: Agriculture operations were carried on in India by subsistence farmers, organized in small village communities. Village was more or less a self-sufficient economic unit and its business contacts with the outside world were limited to payment of land revenue (generally in kind) and the purchase of a few necessary things from the town nearby. The farmer raised only those crops which he needed for his own use and shared the same with the village artisan who supplied him with simple manufacture that he needed for his domestic consumption. Means of communication were of a primitive type. Therefore trade in agricultural produce, was somewhat limited.
  2. Trade: India enjoyed extensive trade both within the country and with other countries of Asia and Europe. A balance of the imports and exports was maintained. The items imported into India were pearls, , wool, dates, dried fruits and rosewater from the Persian gulf; coffee, gold, drugs i and honey from Arabia; tea, sugar and silk from China; gold, musk and woollen cloth; metals like copper, iron and lead, and paper from Europe. The main items exported from India were cotton textiles. Besides cotton textiles which were famous the world over, India also exported raw silk, indigo, opium, rice, wheat, sugar, pepper and other spices, precious stones and drugs. The major features of Indian trade in pre-colonial times were: A favourable balance of trade, A foreign trade most suitable to the level of manufacturing in India.
  3. Industries: India indulged in a large scale manufacture of cotton and silk fabrics, sugar, jute, dyestuffs, mineral and metallic products like arms, metal wares and oil. Towns like Dacca and Murshidabad in Bengal; Patna in Bihar; Surat and Ahmedabad in Gujarat; Jaunpur, Varanasi, Lucknow and Agra in U.P.; Multan and Lahore in the Punjab; Masulipatnam and Visakhapatnam in Andhra; Bangalore in Mysore and Coimbatore and Madurai in Madras were flourishing centres of textile industry. Kashmir specialized in woollen manufactures. Maharashtra, Andhra and Bengal were prominent centres of ship building industry. India's ships were bought by many European companies for India towards the end of the 18th century was. undoubtedly one of the main centres of world trade and industry. This status of India was completely destroyed under colonial times.