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Read the extract given below and answer the questions:
Before the age of Machine Industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. Coarser cotton was produced in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India. Armenian and Persian merchants took the goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, Eastern Persia, and Central Asia. Bales of fine textiles were carried on camelback via the northwest frontier, through mountain passes, and across deserts. A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre-colonial ports. Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea Ports; Masulipatnam on the Coromandel Coast and Hooghly in Bengal had trade links with Southeast Asian Ports. A variety of Indian merchants and bankers were involved in the network of export trade – financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters. Supply merchants linked the port towns to the inland regions. They gave advances to weavers, procured the woven cloth from weaving villages, and carried the supply to the ports. At the port, the big shippers and export merchants had brokers who negotiated the price and bought goods from the supply merchants operating inland. By the 1750s this network, controlled by Indian merchants, was breaking down. The European companies gradually gained power—first securing a variety of concessions from local courts, then the monopoly rights to trade. This resulted in a decline of the old ports of Surat and Hoogly through which local merchants had operated. Exports from these ports fell dramatically, the credit that had financed the earlier trade began drying up, and the local bankers slowly went bankrupt. In the last years of the seventeenth century, the gross value of trade that passed through Surat had been Rs. 16 million. By the 1740's it had slumped to Rs 3 million.
Question (i)
Which Indian goods dominated the international markets in textiles before the age of machine industries?
Answer :
From the paragraph
Before the age of Machine Industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. Coarser cotton was produced in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India. Armenian and Persian merchants took the goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, Eastern Persia, and Central Asia. Bales of fine textiles were carried on camelback via the northwest frontier, through mountain passes, and across deserts.
Before the age of Machine Industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles.
Question (ii)
What kind of cotton was produced in India?
Answer:
From the paragraph
Before the age of Machine Industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. Coarser cotton was produced in many countries , but the finer varieties often came from India . Armenian and Persian merchants took the goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, Eastern Persia, and Central Asia. Bales of fine textiles were carried on camelback via the north west frontier, through mountain passes, and across deserts.
The finer varieties of cotton were produced in India.
Question (iii)
How was the trade carried?
Answer:
From the paragraph
Before the age of Machine Industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. Coarser cotton was produced in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India. Armenian and Persian merchants took the goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, Eastern Persia, and Central Asia. Bales of fine textiles were carried on camelback via the north west frontier, through mountain passes, and across deserts.
Trade was carried on camelback via north west frontier, through mountain passes, and across deserts.
Question (iv)
Why did the trade network controlled by the Indian merchants break down by the 1750s?
Answer:
From the paragraph
The European companies gradually gained power—first securing a variety of concessions from local courts, then the monopoly rights to trade. This r esulted in a decline of the old ports of Surat and Hoogly through which local merchants had operated. Exports from these ports fell dramatically , the credit that had financed the earlier trade began drying up, and the local bankers slowly went bankrupt. In the last years of the seventeenth century, the gross value of trade that passed through Surat had been Rs. 16 million. By the 1740's it had slumped to Rs 3 million. Q. 1. Which Indian goods dominated
The trade network was breaking down because the European companies gained power by securing concessions from local courts and monopoly rights to trade which resulted in the decline of old ports of Surat and Hoogly.
