The impact of the Indian local fleets in the development of trade in the Indian Ocean

Summary

ABSTRACT. The arrival of the Portuguese in the 16^th century and then of the East India Companies, namely Dutch, British, and French, caused a reorganization of trade. Given their appropriation of principal traffic and imposition of controls and restrictions, the Indians were excluded from specific trade routes. However, they were always able to adapt, and Indian commerce was not dislocated until the end of the 18^th century with British colonization. In fact the Indian capacity for resiliency contributed to densifying intra-Asia exchange flows.

RÉSUMÉ. L'arrivée des Portugais au XVI^e siècle puis des compagnies des Indes notamment hollandaise, anglaise et française entrainent une reconfiguration des échanges. En s'appropriant les principaux trafics et en imposant contrôles et restrictions, les Indiens se trouvent exclus de certaines routes commerciales. Or ils se sont toujours adaptés. Jusqu'à la colonisation anglaise à la fin du XVIII^e siècle, le commerce indien ne se disloque pas. Sa capacité de résilience est telle qu'il contribue à densifier les flux d'échanges intra-asiatiques.

The extensive amount of commercial traffic has been a distinctive feature of the Indian Ocean trade since at least the early centuries of the Common Era. Networks of trade covering different segments of the Ocean have a history of remarkable resilience without being resistant to innovation. In other words, without disrupting the rhythm of the overall flow, variables such as the share in total trade of different communities of merchants engaged in a given network, the goods carried, and the relative volume of trade carried on at the ports called at, were fully reflective of evolving situations.

Over the centuries, India has played a key role in the successful functioning of these trading networks. In part, this indeed was a function of the midway location of the subcontinent between west Asia on the one hand and Southeast and east Asia on the other. But perhaps even more important was the subcontinent's capacity to put on the market a wide range of tradable goods at highly competitive prices. These included agricultural goods, both food items such as rice as well as raw materials such as cotton and indigo. While the bulk of the trade in these goods was coastal, the high-seas trade component was by no means insignificant.