Surat
Surat was the Mughal Empire's most important port city, and is where the British gained their first foothold along the Western Coast of India. For centuries, Surat has been known as a center of trade and textiles. It was a major port during the Mughal period, and all powers including the Portuguese vied for power of the port. From the 16th-19th century, the British, French, Portuguese and Dutch established factories in Surat. Today, Surat is known for it’s textiles, with thousands of weavers engrossed in making cotton, synthetic, silk and art silk textiles.
Image: The City of Surat on the West Coast of India along the River Tapi. 17th century engraving.
Short Bibliography:
Chavda, V. K., ed. Studies in Trade and Urbanisation in Western India. Baroda: Department of History, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 1985.
Das Gupta, Ashin. Indian Merchants and the Decline of Surat c. 1700-1750. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1979.
Das Gupta, Ashin and M. N. Pearson, eds. India and the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Gokhale, Balkrishna Govind. Surat in the seventeenth century: a study of urban history in pre-modern India. London: Curzon Press, 1979.
Gopal, Surendra. Commerce and Crafts in Gujarat, 16th and 17th Centuries: A Study in the Impact of European Expansion on Precapitalist Economy. New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1975.
Haynes, Douglas E. Rhetoric and ritual in colonial India : the shaping of a public culture in Surat City, 1852-1928. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Mitra, Pranab Kumar. Port towns in medieval India, 1605 A.D.-1707 A.D. : a case of Surat. Calcutta: Punthi-Pustak, 1995.
Pearson, M. N. Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: the response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
Rawlinson, H. G. British beginnings in Western India, 1579-1657: an account of the early days of the British factory of Surat. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1920.
Singh, O. P. Surat and its trade in the second half of the 17th century. Delhi: Publication Division, University of Delhi, 1976.
Subramanian, Lakshmi. Indigenous Capital and Imperial Expansion: Bombay,
Surat, and the West Coast. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Web Resources
Ancient ports of Gujarat (GIS Development)
