The History of Trade in India Prior to 1750

India had high living standards before the European colonization of 1750. The European colonization greatly harmed the economy that India had before 1750 as India before was among one of the world's largest economies.

The following are evidences that would prove that India was one of the largest economies of the world before 1750 and before the European colonization:

In 321 - 185 B.C., India was unified under one ruler during the Maurya Empire. This empire was responsible for securing all the trade routes throughout India by focusing on the building and maintenance of roads through India for trade purposes. Trade in India was enhanced by these trade infrastructures as well as the increased usage of coins as currency. The Maurya Empire's economy was comparable to the Roman Empire since both had extensive trade connections and that trade was organized in a corporate manner. India became the leader in cotton and textile exports. They export and trade cotton and textiles for gold and silver. According to Angus Maddison, who estimated ancient world GDPs, India had the world's greatest economy with a 32.9% share of the world GDP during the 1^st and 11^th century and in 1700, India had a 24.4% share of the world GDP which was still the largest during that time. This share of the world's GDP by India dropped after the British colonized India by 24.4% in 1700 to just 3.8% in 1952 ("Economic History of India").

Economic historian Paul Bairoch also estimated that in 1750, India and China together accounted for 57.3% of the world manufacturing output with China having 32.8% and India having 24.5% (Philip S. Golub. October 2004). India in 1750 had a higher manufacturing output than that of Europe's 23.2%.

Andre Gunder also pointed out that China and India were the two great regions which were critical to the world economy. India was the leader in producing textiles and was the dominant exporter of cotton goods in the world market (Philip S. Golub. October 2004).

With the colonization of India by Europe, India's textile industry rapidly decline until it became a net exporter of raw cotton and not the finished silks and textiles. At the end of the 19^th century, the once leader in the export of textiles was now importing the textiles that it needed (Philip S. Golub. October 2004). The industrial revolution of Europe had made machine-produced textiles and Europe was using India as being its source of the cotton material so that Europe can be regarded as the importer of finished textile products. This led to the fall of India's textile exportation. Europe had made India substitute their cotton crops for food crops and had made India's standard of living fall (Philip S. Golub. October 2004).

When the British took Bengal, trades were favored and were biased towards the British merchants and thus giving the British merchants more profit that their Indian counterparts. Money from trades were diverted to Britain and more and more taxes were forced on the Indian farmers which further lessened the income of India (India, 2007).

REFERENCES:

"Economic History of India." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 10 Feb 2007. Wikimedia Foundation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Economic_history_of_India&oldid=107118482.

Philip S. Golub. October 2004. "All the riches of the east restored." Le Monde Diplomatique.

http://www.mondediplo.com/2004/10/04asia

"India". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article=47026