Portuguese Trade And Socio-economic Changes On The Western Coast Of India :(1600-1663)

This book was partially a response to the plea "why doesn’t someone (an Indian?) learn Portuguese and work in the Goa Archives?", and partially a curious research attitude. The record of Indo-Portuguese trade gives us both hindsight and foresight of history, for it was the Portuguese explorers and businessmen who inaugurated western colonialism in India. The present study is a detailed and scholarly work based on original documents available in Portugal, Spain, England and in India.

This book examines, in detail, the Portuguese relations with the Indian states along with their exports and imports of European and Asian merchandises, with Goa on the western coast of India as its commercial headquarters for the whole Portuguese empire in the east, and, finally to Portugal.

It covers history, politics and commerce as well as the international rivalries between Portuguese, Dutch and English to share a century long trading activities in Asia. This work brings out an interesting transformation of the traders and the commercial agents, into empire builders. The role of Cartazes and how Portugal not only pioneered the overseas expansion of Europe, but she managed to retain so much of her watertight monopolistic attitudes and empire when other stronger powers appeared on the Oriental arena. All these have been put into it’s proper perspective.

The book includes a number of tables and charts on the Portuguese trade in pepper, cinnamon, textiles, saltpetre, diamonds, gold, silver, and various other. Research scholars are sure to find this book a valuable reference manual. For the general readers, the narration is both interesting and instructive and provides a better understanding of our recent history.