Indian Cotton, Tea, Perfumes and modern history

[ramana]

Following trail shown by Bji in the Mumbai thread on the improtance of the Sasoon family towards the cotton and opium trade in British India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sassoon

....
Sassoon was born in Baghdad, where his father, Saleh Sassoon[1], was a wealthy businessman, chief treasurer to the pashas (the governors of Baghdad) from 1781 to 1817, and leader of the city's Jewish community.

The family were Sephardim with Spanish origins. His mother was Amam Gabbai. After a traditional education in the Hebrew language, Sassoon married Hannah in 1818. They had two sons and two daughters before she died in 1826. Two years later he married Farha Hyeem (who was born in 1812 and died in 1886). The pair had six sons and three daughters.

Following increasing persecution of Baghdad's Jews by Daud Pasha, the family moved to Bombay via Persia. Sassoon was in business in Bombay no later than 1832, originally acting as a middleman between British textile firms and Gulf commodities merchants, then investing in valuable harbour properties. His major competitors were Parsis, whose profits were built on their domination of the Sino-Indian opium trade since the 1820s.

When the Treaty of Nanking opened up China to British traders, Sassoon developed his textile operations into a profitable triangular trade: Indian yarn and opium were carried to China, where he bought goods which were sold in Britain, where he obtained Lancashire cotton products. He sent his son Elias David Sassoon to Canton, where he was the first Jewish trader (with 24 Parsi rivals). In 1845 David Sassoon & Sons opened an office in what would soon become Shanghai's British concession, and it became the firm's second hub of operations.

It was not until the 1860s that the Sassoons were able to lead the Baghdadi Jewish community in overtaking Parsi dominance. A particular opportunity was the American Civil War, during which turmoil American cotton exports declined. Lancashire factories replaced American cotton imports with Sassoon's Indian cotton.

From the China trade of those days David sassoon with the others Parsi Businessmans like Jamshedji Jejaboy continued this trade with China and from what ever wealth they earned here he started his own busienss of oil and start with the first Mill named E.D. Sassoon Mills he gained so Much Proesperity that Later Sassoons had been the largest mill owners and were known as Badshah of business of Bombay they overall had 17 Mills. Each Mill had around 15 to 20,000 workers. Later David Sassoon also entered the Large Scale Industries like in Cotton,Fabrics and various other sections

David Sassoon as being from the Orthodox Jewish Family Had cotninued his Jewish religious life even in his busy life he builds one of largest and the most beautiful synaguage of India Magen David synaguage of Byculla mumbaiand Ohel David Synaguage of Pune which are today's wellknown synaguages as a tourist attract points and is the part of th heitage and the cultural points of India He as other Jews observed Shabbth (Saturday off)and builds builds various charity trust named after him and his other family this organisation runs out of his total Private expense and does still exist, David Sassoon has an equal status like other Great people of Bombay who builds so many Greatest monuments,educational Institutions,great buildings and most prominent places of Bombay and pune

While the building of Gateway of India at Bombay by the British government on the first visit of the queen Victoria and King Albert Mr David Sassoon was the Donated 10 lakhs out of 25 Lakhs of total Amount of Construction on this David Sassoon was Awarded the true citizen and also the member of Legislative essembly of those days, David Sassoon Constructed the Sassoon Dock at Colaba Bombay the one of the largest port land the Docks ever here in Mumbai,David Sassoon Lived with his Family at Bycullas Bungloo which was also actually a Palace named shin Sangoo it is said once on the personal Invitation given by the Sassoons to Queen Victoria she Lived with them at their reidence this Bangloo was Later Donated to the Parsi Trust and is today's Massina Hospital, Near by the Victoria Garden (Rani Baugh of today's days) was also officially the properly of sassons which was donated to the Bombay municial corporation with the Construction of the Albert museam which was Build by the prominent Arcitect of those days and the inside view is totally similar like the Magen David synagogue of Mumbai and ohel David synagoague of pune and ALso has a famous Clock tower still known as Vicria tower is still kept there

Although David Sassoon did not speak English, he became a naturalised British citizen in 1853. He kept the dress and manners of the Baghdadi Jews, but allowed his sons to adopt English manners. His son, Abdullah changed his name to Albert, moved to England, became a Baronet and married into the Rothschild family. All the Sassoons of Europe are said to be descendants of David Sassoon.

He built a synagogue in the Fort (area) and another in Byculla, as well as a school, a Mechanics' Institute, a library and a convalescent home in Pune. David Sassoon was conscious of his role as a leader of the Jewish community in Bombay. He helped to arouse a sense of Jewish identity amongst the Bene Israeli and Cochin Jewish communities. The Sassoon Docks (built by his son) and the David Sassoon Library are named after him.

David Sassoon died in his country house in Pune in 1864. His business interests were inherited by his son Sir Albert Sassoon; Elias David had established a rival firm.



....

[brihaspati]

Since not much history can be given here : allow me some brief comments based on what has been written before
(1) Thumb cutting and other refs occur in the reports from within East India Company papers - which was the basis for some internal redressal attempt by buying directly. Doniger memsahib calls it a myth, but as usual she doesnt do her homework (probably most time spent in showers cooling off from reading Sanskrit passages)
(2) There are well researched studies on the Bengali weavers reacting to British attempts at market manipulation by increasing competitiveness. Data suggests that evem after "mills", the Indian weavers remained competitive and penetration of mill outpt into India was slower than in other parts of the global finished cotton products market. Those who are excited at the economic reasons - should read up on plenty of papers available for this area. They do not support merely the taxation angle. I see a remarkable ignorance of the transportation cost factor - which would give local Indian producers still an advantage. No one talks here about the almost 4:1 currency (silver rates) eqivalence wage differential between Lancashir/Manchester and Bengal (L/M=4, B=1). No one notes therefore the transfer of capital through unequal wages. No one notices the increasing capital substittion from the profits of the transfer in England. Bt still hard economics does not account totally for extinction of Indian weaving - and the administrative and repressive measures fit in nicely in the gap.
(3) there are political aspects to the "weavers" - they formed an influential almost guild like structure. Their unique position also led them into some prominent social/political activism. Kabir, Husayn Shah and most of the Punjab belt social activists came from "weaver" background. Surinder can perhaps enlighten people abot the "nimaana" aspect - its political and weaver-class significance! This could also be a reason for them becoming targets and a source of their resistance and protests against the Brits.

[brihaspati]

ramana ji,
Sasoon is intensely hated in some quarters for his "Jewishness" (perhaps more unpleasant as Jew because he comes from Asiatic rather than Euro zone) as well as for his supposed destruction of Lancashire mills by Bombay (then still Bombay) mills. But it is a great irony of fate then - because Lancashire initially destroyed Punjab, Coromandel and Bengal and finished their cotton manufacture industry. There is also an interesting Surat -Bombay back and forth shift, which gets me curios about the persistent modern dynamic of competition between Gujarat and coastal Maharashtra.

In a different context, I want people to think about the role played by Sasoon and his enterprises, the political consequences, and something perhaps relevant for the current situation - if we can use their modern inheritors in the same commercial-geo-political area. There should be some obvious parallels - both real and virtual. Rockefeller and Rothschild are both relevant - and "weaving fibres" - and those who deal in them in India.

[ramana]

Not Cotton but Tea!

AGENDA | Sunday, December 12, 2010 |

How tea plantations came to India

December 15, 2010 3:52:24 AM


The saga of Indian tea
Author: Prafull Goradia and Kalyan Sircar
Publisher: Targett
Price: Rs 1,800


The East India Company, in order to overcome the growing subordination to China, turned to India for ensuring a steady supply of cheap and uncontaminated tea

The story of Indian tea begins in Britain. Dutch traders first brought Chinese tea to Europe in 1606. The first written British reference to tea dates back to 1615 and was made by an agent of the East India Company in Japan. Garway’s Coffee House in Exchange Alley, London, is credited with being the first public place to serve tea. A 1657 advertisement puts a high value on the beverage: “Those very nations famous for antiquity, knowledge and wisdom do frequently sell it among themselves for twice its weight in silver.” Certainly, before the end of the Commonwealth period (1649-56), tea was beginning to compete with coffee and chocolate.

By 1660, the East India Company had arrived in Canton and Amoy and begun direct trade in tea by 1669. When first introduced, tea was a novelty and its use was limited to the privileged in society. Pepys, the famous diarist, noted on September 26, 1661: “I did send for a cup of tea (a China drink) which I had never drunk before.” In 1664, the East India Company bought 2 lb and 2 oz of tea for a gift to the King. The upper classes, especially the female members, took to tea-drinking avidly and it became an index of prosperity and social decorum.

By the mid-18th century, social meetings called ‘tea parties’ became common among the middle classes. In Alexander Pope’s epic poem The Rape of the Lock and Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, published in 1766, tea was mentioned. Many writers, poets and men in the medical profession, as well as itinerant travellers and journalists, waxed eloquent about the myriad virtues of the Chinese infusion. It was sold in apothecaries’ shops in many towns, because of its supposed medicinal qualities. Perhaps the first reference to tea by an English poet — Edward Walter — was in 1688. Walter wrote of “fleets, rich-laden with my much-loved tea”. From then onwards, a vast literature on tea, praising its numerous qualities, came to be written. For Duncan Campbell, “How insipid would this world be without some female love and tea?”

A contemporary suggested that tea was the most suitable female drink being the “liquor of the fair and of the wife”. Men would find that whereas wine intoxicated, tea gave “no offence”. From the confines of apothecaries’ counters, tea quickly spread to grocers’ shops and became an important item in the stock of pedlars. Tea was now regarded as part of the household’s daily diet...

The agricultural and industrial revolutions of the 18th and the early 19th centuries helped improve the living standards of many in Britain. One index of rising domestic comfort was the habit of tea drinking among these people.

William Cowper, the famous English poet wrote: “Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast/ Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round/ And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn/ Throws up a steaming column, and the cups/ That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,/ So let us welcome peaceful evening in.”

There was also a group of people who strongly criticised tea drinking, pointing to its many harmful effects. “Some complain that after a tea breakfast, they find themselves rather fluttered; their hands less steady in writing or any employ that requires an exact command. Those who drank tea in the afternoon found themselves very easily agitated and affected with a kind of involuntary trembling.” Not only tea drinkers but also those exposed to tea dust (blenders) were at risk. “Those who mix tea and in the process breathe in an air loaded with a fine dust of tea, suffer from bleedings from lungs or from nostrils; others are attacked with violent coughs, ending in consumption”...

Christian preachers were also against the habit of tea drinking, which they insisted, led to all kinds of evil — moral, religious and political. In 1775, one Dame Dorothy Bradshaigh founded an almshouse in Lancashire; among the rules of the charity was a ban on tea drinking: “Those who can afford to indulge in an article, so unnecessary, so expensive, so destructive of both time and health (the tea such people must drink being poison), I shall not allow to be proper objectives of this charity.”

By 1822, according to William Cobbett, “The troublesome and pernicious habit of drinking tea had demoralised the English countryside, having by then largely supplanted home-brewed beer as the agricultural labourers’ favourite beverage, wasting his money and his wife’s time without providing any nutrition whatever.”

Over time, in the debate between the tea drinkers and their opponents, the supporters won hands down... As its popularity increased, more tea was imported, causing a fall in price, thus leading to another spurt in demand. In the 1660s, when only the rich and the famous drank it, the price of tea in England was six to 10 pound sterling per lb, according to quality. By 1703, the average price was 16 shillings per lb. The annual consumption, which was 20,000 lb in 1700, rose to over one million lb in 1721, nearly six million lb in 1768 and about 11 million lb in 1785. In 1816, the imports reached 36 million lb and the habit of tea drinking by all classes was firmly established.

Our brief sketch of the period 1645-1830 shows how tea came to occupy an important place in British life, encompassing its economy, its social habits and relations, and even the literature. This was, of course, long before anyone knew of the Indian plant yielding the same liquor. The tea from China — the only source of supply — was responsible for these revolutionary changes. However, as time went on, the danger and vulnerability of this exclusive dependence on one country became apparent, especially when that country, the “celestial kingdom”, proved to be “haughty and capricious”. The East India Company, therefore, turned to India, its newly conquered colony, for ensuring a steady and reliable supply of cheap and uncontaminated tea.

--Excerpts from The Saga of Indian Tea

I didn't know Praful Goradia is scholar too!

Waht I don't understand is how tea which is a decoction wasn't an Ayurvedic potion.

[Pranav]

Cotton, Opium, Tea ... that was the mercantilism of the 19th century. In the 20th century it was Oil.

21st century ???

[ramana]

IT.

[SwamyG]

OT, and looking for some trends here.
Habit of Drinking Tea {from ramana garu's post http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 21#p994421}
1. Habit of drinking tea was considered a novelty.
2. The noble & upper class women picked this habit and it became an index of prosperity and social decorum.
3. It sort of became a standard for rising families who gained better prosperity.
4. The Christian preachers were against this habit.
5. Over time, this habit became more popular and spread across the classes & societies (and the World).
6. Eventually "tea came to occupy an important place in British life, encompassing its economy, its social habits and relations, and even the literature."
7. England in order to diversify its sources, turned to India so that it did not have to depend ONLY on China.

Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation, Pluralism, Hindu style Weddings, Buddhism, Hinduism - Indic traditions in the West
Happened already
1. Indict Traditions (IT for short)* was considered exotic.
2.
a) First, Intellectuals picked IT and it became a sign of "enlightenment" or "refinement".
b) Next, Celebrities pick IT. They have been carrying lockets, conducting Hindu style weddings, wearing Indic tatoos ityadi.
3. With soaring physical, mental, social and economic problems more people turn to IT.
4. The Christian preachers are firmly against IT.
5. Over time, IT gains popularity and spreads across commoners (Yoga studios everywhere, articles & classes on meditation, breathing techniques everywhere, Yoga and Ayurvedic resorts and spas not uncommon anymore)
Will it happen in the future?
6. Eventually IT occupies an important place in Westerner's life, encompassing its economy, its social habits and relations, and even literature.
7. West in order to diversify and attract more people, turns elsewhere (including looking at the West). Newer forms of IT springs up.

Once again sorry for the OT. Could not help noticing similar trend. I think we are between steps 5 and 6.

* - ramana garu could not help noticing the coincidence. You mention IT - Information Technology and very soon I come up with Indic Traditions as IT. Yoga in West is a 6 billion dollar industry now. So both ITs are powerful enough. Probably it is destiny

[brihaspati]

Japanese legends ascribe the origin of tea in China to the Indian monk Bodhidharma (ca. 460-534), a monk born near Madras, India, and the founder of the Ch’an (or Zen) sect of Buddhism.

Chinese legends credit a monk called Gan Lu, whose family name was Wu-Li-chien, with traveling to India during the Later Han dynasty, A.D. 25-221, to pursue Buddhist studies. Gan Lee is said to have taken seven tea plants home to China from India, which he planted on Meng Mountain in Szechwan. This story was later supported in an allegory on tea in the Ch`a P`u published long afterward, through which tea was first brought to imperial attention. [Gan Lu, which means “Sweet Dew”, is a very famous tea in China. Legend has it that the Gan Lu tea plant was first cultivated by the legendary Buddhist monk, Wu Li Zhen. After he achieved Nirvana, the locals around Meng Mountains nicknamed this tea “Xian Cha”, which means Tea of the Immortal. Only the leaves picked in the misty peak areas of Mount Meng can be considered as true Meng Ding Gan Lu. ] http://www.teaspring.com/Meng-Ding-Gan-Lu.asp

[SwamyG]

^^^
Brihaspati: I have a question for you in the off-topic thread.

[ramana]

Pioneer article on Traditional Perfume industry in India

Blossoms in the bottle

Blossoms in the bottle
March 29, 2011 12:27:06 AM


India manufactures some of the finest ittar and sugandhi which are now being used by the West for making soaps and food flavourings. Neeti Nigam reports from a recent festival

If there is one place that has managed to keep its century old tradition of ittar-making intact, it’s Kannauj, a small, but culturally rich district of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, it is said that even the sewages of this town smell of flowers! Since time immemorial, a handful of ittar-traders there have been supplying the most sought out fragrances to the royal families across the world. To promote and showcase India’s rich heritage in the field of natural perfumes and essential oils, Delhi Tourism recently organised the Ittara & Sugandhi Festival, a first-of-its-kind at Dilli Haat, Pitampura.

In India, the ittar history is as old as its civilsation. From the Indus Vally Civilisation to the entry of Mughals, essential oils extracted from the herbs and flowers have been the privilege of the royals. Not many know that it was Mughal empress Noorjehan first discovered rooh gulab ittar, which is now considered to be the most expensive of all ittar forms. The credit for another mehndi-like (henna) fragrance also goes to these Muslim rulers who, claimed Kannuj-based attar (aroma oil) manufacturer Vinod Saini, brought it to India in the 12th century. One of the festival participants, Saini recalled the stories his elders told him of how Kannuaj industry was first set-up. “The industry came into being during the Mughal period when they brought new plants like henna with them. This was the beginning of natural fragrances in India, which progressed in and around Kannauj —which has now become a huge hub,” said Saini, whose ancestors has been in this business for over 150 years.

Around 80 per cent of the total families of the town are now engaged in the fragrance business, either through cultivation process or through distillation and sales.

Going a notch above regular scents like rose, mongra, khus and sandalwood, Saini has come up with his own innovation called Divyagandha, which is made by combining rose, mogra, kewra, chameli, bela, genda and sandalwood oil with extract of organic herbs. “It smells divine and is wonderful for meditation and relaxation and provides a soothing effect when used while practicing yoga,” he informed.

Another participant Ramakant Harlalka has over 30 years of experience in the manufacturing and sales of aromatic ingredients and essential oils. A chemical engineer from Bombay University, Harlalka owns six companies, out of which one provides fragrances to Hindustan Lever. A strong believer in natural ingredients, Harlalka displayed a 6.5-feet high incense bamboo stick at the festival. He explained, “The stick had layering of herbs, spices and flowers like kedar patti, benjoin and so on. I have used mature flowers from the jungles of Uttarakhand to give a holistic scent to the stick,” said Harlalka, who has also taken an initiative to plant saplings of various herbs, flowers and sandalwood across the nation. “Sandalwood is the base for all the ittars. During King Harshwardhan’s reign, sandalwood was floated in river Yamuna from the forests and thereby taken to the state for havans and other purposes. But over the years, due to deforestation, it is impossible to get sandalwood from Himalayan belt. Therefore, I have taken the initiative to grow its saplings,” said he.

According to Shakti Vinay Shukla, deputy director (fragrance and flavour), ministry of MSME, some of India’s traditional fragrances like rose, sandalwood and genda have a huge demand in the international market. “India manufactures some of the finest ittars and sugandhi which are now being used for making soaps and food flavourings,” Shukla said.

“What makes an ittar different from sugandhi is that ittar is purely made of one fragrance and should be prepared through traditional method. A sugandhi, on the other hand, is a combination of various chemicals,” he summed up.

[Murugan]

A gujjubhai used to trade large volume of Tea from Surat when jahangir was a ruler from 1605 to 1627.

[Murugan]

Gandha, lepan, sugandhadravyam, parimal, anbar etc are all synonyms of perfume in sanskrit.

Sandalwood oil or perfume is indian.
Khus (vetiver) = Chrysopogon zizanioides - is native to india
Henna (Lawsonia inermis) = There is mention of henna as a hair dye in Indian court records around 400 CE

[Murugan]

Cotton Exchange Bombay

The East India Cotton Association Limited constructed the famous and legendary ‘THE COTTON EXCHANGE’ building, in the year 1938. The Cotton Exchange, which was the first tallest building in Mumbai for decades, was inaugurated by Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

This iconic structure was one of the biggest attractions for tourists – both Indians and foreign, and played an important role in the economics of pre and post independent India. The cotton exchange played a notable part in not only the development of cotton marketing in India, but also in the service of the cotton economy and the textile industry of the country. During the pre-independence period, cotton was the prime trading good and formed one of the Virtual Identity of India. With most of the trade being handled from this building it formed a vital part of the economy then.

[Murugan]

Muslims of Mumbai are still trading ittars. business is good.

Moi a frequent visitor of A R Attarwala (5 mins walk from crawfard/jyotiba phule market).

Favourite ittar is Heena. A R Attarwala keeps three types of every perfume - low, medium and high quality.
Floral perfumes are big hit. Gulab, Mogra, Lily are other top selling products.

***

Khus is applied during summer - because of its cooling effect
Henna during winter - for its hot note

[ramana]

Hindu reports

Additional 10 lakh blaes export allowed

The informal Group of Ministers (GoM) led by Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday decided to allow export of additional 10 lakh bales of cotton during the current season in the wake of a sharp fall in prices in the domestic market. “We had calculated earlier an exportable surplus of 55 lakh bales which was permitted. The GoM has decided to allow another 10 lakh bales. The total exports will now be 65 lakh bales in the current season,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters after the meeting chaired by Mr. Mukherjee.

The country had already exported 52.5 lakh bales and the remaining quantity would be allowed to be exported, he added. Cotton season runs from October to September.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who is also part of the GoM, said: “We will review the situation in a month or month-and-a-half after we get the report of the sowing area. Our assessment is that in the coming season, the area under cotton will be more, so for the time being, we have decided to [allow additional] export [of] 10 lakh bales,” Mr. Pawar said.

Mr. Sharma said the GoM took stock of the ground realities, the need of the industry and also the requirement of cotton for domestic consumption, till the next crop arrives in October. The government had imposed a quantitative restriction on cotton exports in October when prices of the natural fibre had shot up.The restrictions on cotton exports came in for criticism from farmers' organisations and the Gujarat Government. The Agriculture Ministry was also in favour of relaxing exports curbs and allowing additional exports of 15 lakh bales in the 2010-11 season. On the other hand, the Textiles Ministry was against the proposal citing the move would hurt the interest of the mills.

According to the Agriculture Ministry data, the country is estimated to have produced a record 339 lakh bales in 2010-11 crop year against 242 lakh bales in the previous year. However, the Cotton Advisory Board has lowered the cotton output to 312 lakh bales in April from 329 lakh bales, mainly due to unseasonal rains in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra last December.

[ravar]

Well, MMS sure does know a thing or two about cotton and its history for sure !!!...As a WKK, his dossier and cricket diplomacy and Sharam Shake fiasco are followed by this 'yarn' that he is pulling over India...!!

India sows Bt cottonseed diplomacy with Pakistan

New Delhi, June 11:
The Commerce Ministry has provided its Pakistani counterpart a list of Bt cotton seed producing agencies in India. The move to promote export of Bt cotton seeds to Pakistan comes at a time when India itself is reportedly facing a “shortage” of such seeds.

This new initiative was identified at the India-Pakistan talks in April in Islamabad. It aims to help Pakistan's farmers and its textile sector by increasing cotton yields and ensuring better cotton security. Both sides had agreed to enable Business-to-Business contact and governmental regulatory clearances.

The Commerce Ministry sources told Business Line that the idea stemmed from a firm named Nath Biogene, which informed the Ministry that it had worked on Indian and Pakistani soils, did research and developed a Bt cotton variety. The firm had even given a presentation about this in Pakistan. The idea received acceptance as the firm proved that its Bt cotton variety could survive in Pakistani soil.

Enthused by this, the Commerce Ministry sought from the Agriculture Ministry a list of Bt cotton seed producing agencies in India. The Agriculture Ministry then forwarded a list of 32 agencies, including all the leading Bt cotton seed producers such as Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nuziveedu Seeds, Rasi Seeds and Nath Biogene.

The sources said the move is part of the Prime Minister's initiative to ensure prosperity in neighbouring countries even if India Inc does not gain much directly. Incidentally, India and Pakistan compete internationally in the cotton and textile space.

On the “shortage” of Bt cotton seeds in India, the Commerce Ministry officials said they do not have any such information from the local seeds firms. Even during meetings leading to the India-Pakistan talks, no representation was forwarded on such a “shortage,” they said.

[svinayak]

ramana ji,
Sasoon is intensely hated in some quarters for his "Jewishness" (perhaps more unpleasant as Jew because he comes from Asiatic rather than Euro zone) as well as for his supposed destruction of Lancashire mills by Bombay (then still Bombay) mills. But it is a great irony of fate then - because Lancashire initially destroyed Punjab, Coromandel and Bengal and finished their cotton manufacture industry. There is also an interesting Surat -Bombay back and forth shift, which gets me curios about the persistent modern dynamic of competition between Gujarat and coastal Maharashtra.

In a different context, I want people to think about the role played by Sasoon and his enterprises, the political consequences, and something perhaps relevant for the current situation - if we can use their modern inheritors in the same commercial-geo-political area. There should be some obvious parallels - both real and virtual. Rockefeller and Rothschild are both relevant - and "weaving fibres" - and those who deal in them in India.

The rivalry between the Sassons and the English royal family of Mountbatton is quite true.

Killing of Mountbatton was done by Sassons.

[ramana]

Colonialism and cotton trade

http://www.southernvoicesuk.org.uk/wp-c ... -pages.pdf

Ref - table comparing various world regions - towards the latter part of the document

[ramana]

X-Post....

Don't want to lose the following link

Deindustrialization in 18th and 19th Century India: Mughal Decline, Climate Shocks and British Industrial Ascent

*

[abhischekcc]

Cotton, Opium, Tea ... that was the mercantilism of the 19th century. In the 20th century it was Oil.

21st century ???

Just look at the largest industries in the world. They are, in order: 1. Oil & Energy, 2. Drugs & Narcotics, 3. Weapons.

[abhischekcc]

Killing of Mountbatton was done by Sassons.

Why?

[abhischekcc]

Cotton, Opium, Tea ... that was the mercantilism of the 19th century. In the 20th century it was Oil.

21st century ???

Just look at the largest industries in the world. They are, in order: 1. Oil & Energy, 2. Drugs & Narcotics, 3. Weapons.

And Anglo Saxons lead in all of them.

[Varoon Shekhar]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 705978.cms

First time I personally heard of this, jasmine from TN used in famous French perfume.

Christian Dior's magic element: Madurai's jasmine flower
Priya M Menon, TNN Oct 7, 2012, 05.24AM IST
Tags:Raja Palaniswamy|Jasmine CE Pvt Ltd.|Francois Demachy|Christian Dior(Dior uses extracts of jasmine…)

CHENNAI: The flower market of Tamil Nadu's Madurai is a crowded, busy place. It is the place the perfumer creator of French fashion house Christian Dior, Francois Demachy, visits every year to imbibe the fragrances that help him create the floral perfumes that Dior is renowned for.

Dior uses extracts of jasmine sambac and tuberose sourced from Tamil Nadu, along with other raw materials, for J'adore, one of the top selling fragrances in the world. "Jasmine sambac is used in all J'adore fragrances due to its olfactory qualities," says Demachy, who was in Madurai recently. "For me, it is a very strong and unique ingredient, and I link its uniqueness to Indian soils."

That is why he has been making a yearly trip to Tamil Ndu for the last eight years. For him, it is essential to see the flower grow. "It is important to feel the flower and see it in the ground, see the people who grow it and keep it in your mind like a bank," says Demachy, who is usually off to the fields by the crack of dawn.

When Demachy joined Dior after 28 years with Chanel, J'adore was already their best selling perfume. "But I used jasmine sambac as a key ingredient for different versions, like J'adore L'Absolu, J'adore L'Or and J'adore Eau de Toilette," says the perfumer, who is from Grasse, which is also known for its jasmine. Dior has been sourcing jasmine sambac for J'adore from the beginning. "It is one of the main ingredients along with other key raw materials like rose damascena and ylang ylang," says Demachy.

The fragrance of many flowers that bloom in the soil of Tamil Nadu also permeate the House of Dior. "We use jasmine sambac and jasmine grandiflorum from Tamil Nadu and tuberose for J'adore Eau De Parfum, Poison, New Look from La Collection Privee CD and Escale a Pondichery," says Demachy.

Jasmine CE Pvt Ltd has been supplying Dior with jasmine grandiflorum, sambac and tuberose extracts since 2007. "We are completely aware of their quality specifications, and products are supplied accordingly. We also hold stocks for them and supplies are made just in time for their production," says Raja Palaniswamy, director of Jasmine CE Pvt Ltd. His company owns small fields close to Coimbatore, where the flowers are grown organically.

[ramana]

Please post the text ad this thread is a repository.

[gunjur]

Coffee museum in ChikmagaLuru youtube series (it's in kannada)



[youtube]JMgDIEo4Th8&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

[youtube]APlCnUQ-NV4&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

[ramana]

We should also track the use of indigo and how that led to the chemical dye stuff industry and rise of German chemical giants.

[disha]

There is also an interesting Surat -Bombay back and forth shift, which gets me curios about the persistent modern dynamic of competition between Gujarat and coastal Maharashtra.

For Gujarat, it is surat-mumbai competition in south gujarat and Baroda-Ahmedabad-Rajkot back and forth in the north part.

Mumbai got its ascendancy with the british raj and surat lost out for a while since it was "not aligned" with british and its later day avatar the congress. If you are looking for a modern parable of competition - think Ambani and Adani aided with assortment of diamond and textile traders (though Adani is more Ahmedabad based).

Added later: One can write a great fiction indicating the various mercantile wars between the parsis of bombay and parsis of surat and vaishnavs of bombay and surat and ahmedabad and the jains from surat to mehsana. The inter factional and intra factional diatribes, push and pulls and strategic help (and kicks as well) will put any chess gamer to shame

[ramana]

why dont you try your skills at that?

[vishvak]

Not too long ago famous cotton mills in India used to make cotton cloth that felt as good as silk to touch. No difference at all as heard so. The mills closed down in late 60s. Guess what does that mean to export scenario!

[ramana]

India, US top gold jewellery exporters

Italy has lost its position as the world's premier gold jewellery exporter, overtaken by India and the United States, and risks slipping further due to its high cost base and tariff barriers.

Mumbai-based Gitanjali, one of the world's largest diamond and jewellery manufacturer-retailers, acquired a handful of Italian luxury jewellery brands during the economic downturn, and now sells their pieces in strategic growth markets.

Gitanjali has opened a store showcasing two of its upscale Italian brands, Stefan Hafner and Nouvelle Bague, in Dalian, China

Well I talk to Amrikis everyday. I do it for living. And the people I interact with are entrepreneurs not abduls. We cater hendreds of them. Based on my exp I can safely say that they are by no means superhumans. All the lacking we talk about such as common sense, logic, analytical skills, general awareness is as low or high as you would find among Indians in any big city. And frankly, that's how it would be everywhere in the world. People are people. They are good in some and bad in some. An artist would know nothing about politics, technology, defense etc. and probably would think from heart more than the mind (is there any wonder that we see a good portion of human right activists in India comprise of artists?). A farmer would know nothing about PSLV. What a scientist would know about Indian folk dance? But what is important is that all of them know their own stuff. Go to a dehati farmer and talk about Kheti-Badi. You will wonder how much knowledge he has about it. The society needs all of them. One common mistake we make in judging people is that we judge them based on our own perception and knowledge. That's not how you do it. You have to judge them in what they are doing. The rural people of India are behind in general awareness but there is no reason to think that they are not doing their bit in the economy.

And then of course, there are some people who in general terms are really smart, who have good overall logical and analytical skills and rest are below par. The earlier are lesser than the latter in every society.

Given the current state of India as compared to US/Europe I am more hopeful than the other members here. The Indian parents of today are educated. They have less children. The market is becoming more and more competitive in every aspect. There is rapid urbanization happening here. India is a young country and will remain the same for few decades. For the most part of the history we have been the Gangotri of Gyan and days are not far that we snatch the tagname of "Vishwa Guru" back for us. One can call this wishful thinking but I really do believe it.

To add to the above point, The diamond polishing industry is well known across the globe. Almost 80% of diamonds of entire world get polished in India and Surat is the biggest center for it. But if you visit any polishing unit in Surat or for that matter anywhere in India you will be shocked by the level of literacy and intellectual ability of the workers. Let alone the general awareness, the polishers don't even know how much the diamond that they are polishing would cost (just roughly) in the market. Many of them don't know how to get a reserved compartment in the train to their hometown. But then, They are the best in the world in what they are doing. We all know what they contribute to the economy.

The above scenario is nothing to be proud of though. They resemble to chinese workers who don't know their rights. What I am trying to point out is that just because the people you meet are not knowledgeable and smart, that doesn't mean they are not contributing to the economy. They all do. And actually you need some part of them like that to sustain.

And to the brighter side, though most of those diamond workers are such, they don't want their children to be like them. They would do everything to give their children the best education. And most of them have less children. The importance of education has prevailed to the lowest level of the society. Barring roadside beggars types, no one want their children to do the shit job. I cannot speak the same for some of the laggard states like UP, Jharkhand etc. but in general the situation is quite encouraging in India.

[ramana]

In line with the first post on this page, more on the Opium wars and the lack of response in India.

http://www.thechinabeat.org/?p=3845

....
Mumbai boomed on money from the opium trade in the nineteenth century. Landmarks of neo-imperial or Asiatic Gothic architecture—the tall white colonnades of the Asiatic Society (now Mumbai’s Central Municipal Library); the rusty brick arches of the David Sassoon Library—are striking reminders of how profitable this Asian commerce was; several of such buildings were paid for by China-trading philanthropists. But there seemed to be limited awareness of Mumbai’s past connections with the opium trade, as I wandered about these now-decaying structures. A phlegmatic librarian in the Asiatic Society pointed up at an enormous hole in the ceiling: “That nearly killed me when it came down.” The Society’s once pompous interior—imperial pillars with frothy gold tops, statues of nineteenth-century British worthies—has been thoroughly desacralised by the readers snoozing over the tables and the shelves of down-to-earth titles. (The domestic science section seemed particularly well stocked, featuring practical volumes such as Step-by-step Garnishes, Rugs: All You Need to Know, and Ultimate Casserole.) “I know nothing about opium. Or the Opium War,” the librarian told me. “It was all such a long time ago. I like British people. They’re very good in their hearts and in their minds and they have lots of good ideas. They built lots of good buildings and government institutions here.”

I wondered if the psychology behind this forgetfulness was a little more complex than Ghosh allowed for. While in India, I tried to explain the resentment that memory of the Opium War and the “century of humiliation” can provoke in China, and asked if there was similar anger directed at India’s own experiences under British rule. The response that I often received borrowed from the language of psychoanalysis: “India’s over it,” one woman—born two years after Independence—pronounced. India has enough to worry about in the present day, others told me, with corruption scandals and relations with Pakistan. “I used to think that India had a cult of victimhood, but it seems it’s nothing compared to China,” remarked one novelist. “In India, we’ve generally been aware that we’ve been responsible for our own problems. Caste, social problems, the tension between Muslims and Hindus—they’ve always been there; some people might say they were exacerbated by colonialism, but they were always there.” Amongst those who have benefited most from India’s cosmopolitan education system, there was a relaxed openness towards Britain and its colonial legacies. “Diversity is our strength,” one NGO worker told me. “We have good relations with the British now; much better than with Pakistan. And Britain gave us so many things—rule by law, for one.” He told me about a hit stand-up show by the comedian Vir Das he’d seen in Mumbai the previous winter, called The History of India, which had made fun of “some of India’s most sacred cows”—even Gandhi. “Vir presents the funny elements that have been a part of our heritage and how much there was to laugh at in our struggles, how much humor there is in heritage,” its producer has commented. The idea of a Chinese comedian taking a similarly irreverent look at the Century of Humiliation is unthinkable (though India arguably diverts public sensitivities onto discussion of religious issues).

Indian memories of the opium trade were also, I detected, tinged with a degree of guilt. It’s well established that although private British traders got rich on selling opium to China, so did some Indian merchants—and especially Mumbai Parsis. They provided credit for British businessmen; they built ships for the trade; and sometimes they sailed them themselves. A Parsi opium trader in one of Ghosh’s novels expresses their actions pragmatically:

....

[ramana]

http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.com/2010/ ... -ajit.html

THE HONOURABLE PARSI OPIUM DRUG RUNNERS OF MUMBAI



YES, MOST OF THE FABULOUSLY RICH BOMBAY PARSIS IN THE 19TH CENTURY , WHEN INDIA WAS UNDER THE BRITISH RULE WERE DRUG RUNNERS.
THEY HAD THE GOOD SENSE TO INVEST EVERYTHING IN APPRECIATING PRIME LAND THEY SECURED FROM THE GRATEFUL BRITISH --AT THROW AWAY PRICES, AND TO BUILD TIMELESS PHILANTHROPIC INSTITUTIONS. ALL OF THEM HAVE THEIR NAMES ALLOTTED TO PRINCIPAL STREETS OF MUMBAI.
THESE HONOURABLE FOLKS PAY IT MONEY TO GET RID OF THEIR NAMES OF THEIR FOREFATHERS FROM THE INTERNET, ON A REGULAR BASIS.
All of them are founders of the HSBC bank in 1865, at Hong Kong. They are also the first FREE MASON lodge members of India.

What follows is authentic information dug out from the records of Jardine and Matheson correspondence by letters , and Chinese verbally. Those days there was NO email or telex. Letters and manifests have to be burnt, if it should not leave a trail.

The British East India Company in 1750 started cultivating Opium in Bengal and Bihar to finance its own private army of 1.5 lak soldiers . As a result there were many famines and deaths in India due to lack of food.
By 1790 they established an monopoly on Opium trade – and poppy growers in Indian could sell only to the East India Company.



Th East India company owned by Jews Rothschild family was just a front for the Queen. She needed the money to prevent the Empire from becoming bankrupt , as she planned to expand colonial rule.
Britain could no longer afford to buy tea from China in exchange for Silver. Opium was the free and easy option. Thousands of Bengali , Bihari and Malva Indian farmers were forced to grow Opium .
The British queen Victoria was the biggest drug trafficker in the 19th century. Britain made drug addicts out of 10 million Chinese. Opium is highly addictive , and heavy users last just 5 years. It makes a entire race passive , with no will to work. Opium was banned in China since nearly 100 years before this.
It was Warren Hastings , the first Governor General of India’s , idea to first traffic drugs to China in 1780.
Even Queen Victoria used Opium ( Laudanum ) , and records exist in the Royal Apothecary at Balmoral, as to how many times Opium was passed on to the royal palace. Gladstone openly took Laudanum ( opium + alcohol in ratio of 1:12 ). A lot of British noblemen were Opium eaters.
The Free Mason Lodges of Britain and USA have their origins in the opium trade, which made them fabulously rich—and they could buy the unlimited power.
NOW I WILL TALK ABOUT THE INDIAN SCENE.
In India too we had a similar power brokers. They were the Parsis who came to India as refugees from Iran ,and till the Opium trade started were petty shop keepers and garbage ( raddhi like empty bottles and papers ) buyers/ sellers.
These Parsis made fantastic fortunes by being middle men of the British who trusted them , as they were not proper Indians, and had no scruples when it came to prostituting their souls.
In 1857 the British crown orchestrated the Indian Sepoy Mutiny or The first war of Independence, by provoking the superstitious Indian with pig and cow lard. After that the British Empire under Lord Palmerston just took over India—they did NOT require a front like East India company with a private army any more.

And Queen Victoria officially became empress of India..
The Opium trade in India was controlled by the Parsis . Some of them also started the Indigenous shipping and the Wadia Mazagaon /Sassoon docks.



The King pin of the Parsi lot was JJ or Sir Jamsedjee Jeejeebhoy ( 1753 to 1859 ). He shared his spoils with the British , was their middle-man, and did their dirty work—so they knighted him in 1842 –and made him a Baron in 1857.


He partnered Jardine and Matheson in HongKong to be the leaders of the biggest drug cartel in the world. He was one of the 6 directors of the Bank of Bombay, in addition to owning ships, agencies, brokering houses, and commercial clearing houses.
JJ was born in India in 1783, to a impoverished weaver in Yatha Yahu Vairyo Muhalla near Crawford market Mumbai. --and soon became an orphan. Till the age of 16 he had NO formal education. Then he burst into the big league of drug running. He visited China on East India company ships. He was also called Battliwala, as he lived with his uncle Framjee who dealt in recycled garbage bottles .
At the age of 20 he married Batliwala’s 10 year old daughter Avibhai.
He was the first to be knighted from India and made a Baron, by a grateful queen Victoria—as he held the moolah.
JJ was initiated into the opium trade by another Parsi by the name of Hirji Readymoney. Hirji has small ships smuggling opium to Canton in 1755. His sudden wealth and splurge earned him the nickname Ready money. Soon Pestonji Bomanji Wadia from Parel , Cowasji, Petit, Patel, Mehta , Modi, Cama ,Tata etc joined them . Wadia built the Cusrow baug, Lal Baug, Navroz baug and Ness baug.

See "freedom fighter" Madame Cama below. Her lawyer husband Rustom Cama and her Patel parents were in the drug business.


JJ made several trips to Canton by ship , with his chinese servants. He became close friends with Jardine in 1805 on a trip to China. Parsis monopolized the Malva opium. On one of his trips he met Matheson who was being held captive by the French in China.

In 1859 Nussarwanji Tata floated the firm Jamsetji and Ardeshir in Hong Kong with two other partners to import opium.
A Bagdadhi jew by the name of Sassoon (blood relative of Rothschild family ) gave the Parsis stiff competition in the drug trade. He built Sassoon docks, Elphinstone college, Sassoon library and Flora fountain.

One of our Ex- Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Samson is a Bagdhadi jew. By 1860 Sassoon left the Parsis behind as the Rothschild Jews favoured another blood relative Jew for the secretive and cut throat Opium trade, rather than Ex-Persians.

The first Opium war started because Sassoons opium was confiscated by the Chinese emperor. An outraged Sassoon had the clout and the arm twisting ability to force the Queen to battle for him. He could expose any high ranking British authority or Royalty —as they were hand in glove with him.

After losing this war China had to cede Hong Kong to the British for them to have a launching pad for drugs—this was run by the Triad drug cartel ( all free masons ).
Wadia came all the way to my hometown to buy Malabar teak for building ships for the queen at Mazagaon docks .


THE WORLD FAMOUS CUTTY SARK BUILT IN 1869 WAS A OPIUM SMUGGLER, MADE OF TEAK WOOD FROM MY HOMETOWN-- CALICUT OF MALABAR. This ship was the Concorde of the sea -- could never be overtaken and pirated! She was on the Shanghai tea run.


By the age of 39 JJ was a billionaire by todays standards. By 1800 Parsis owned half of Bombay—they invested in land.
As he became older he became respectable and built all the JJ buildings of Mumbai—JJ arts, JJ architecture, JJ commercial art , JJ hospital, Mahim causeway etc. See JJ's picture below.

He was close to the British governor of Bombay Sir Robert Grant for whom built the Grant Hospital, for diplomatic protection . No wonder the British loved him.
After the opium trade went PHUTT they shifted to cotton trade and became respectable mill owners.
Jardine Matheson group is still the Largest Conglomerate group in Hong Kong. We all know who controls Mumbai . Jardine and Matheson had met in 1818 at Canton.
American Elihu Yale used Chinese opium money to fund Yale university.
THE DRUG TRAFFICKING DONE BY THE WEST , DWARFS THE PUNY COLUMBIAN CARTEL.


Some of these drug runner statues are sprinkled across Mumbai. To show that they are still highly revered philanthropists, the Parsis keep fresh magazines/ newspapers for selling, and then take photos, when it appears that a well dressed man is indeed bowing to the statue in reverence.


But in the 1830s and 40s’ they also owned and developed many of Bombay’s quintessential suburbs. Cursetji Maneckji owned Anik, Dhakji Dadaji owned Versova, Framji Cowasji (Powai estate), Jamestji Bomanji (Vile Parle, Juhu); Cursetji Cowasji (Goregaum); Ratanji Edulji (Ghatkopar).
MNS the Marathi Manoos torchbearers should realise that Bihari Opium also built Mumbai, and so they have a right to live there.

The Bengal opium centre was Rangpur, ( in Bangladesh now ).

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the British East India Company resident accountant for Opium accounts--from where he embezelled money.
Dwarkendranath Tagore ( the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore from Calcutta ) , Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( Rangpur, Bangladesh ) and Ghanshyam Birla ( from Calcutta ) were some of the drug trafficking agents and stooges of Rothschild in the East part of India.

In 1910, Sir Sarupchand Hukumchand , a front for Rothschild , bought opium for Rs 25 lakh and sold it for Rs 2 crore, a seven-fold profit. This was a huge amount in those days. With the profit he went into textile and jute mills.. And in those days you cannot get knighted without Rothschild’s approval.

His son Sir Seth Hukum Chand Jain too was knighted and was known as the “cotton prince” of India . In his later life, Seth Hukam Chand gave up wearing of expensive clothes, jewellery studded with precious jems etc., and switched to simple clothes, and embraced spiritualism.


BITS Pilani Univeristy was founded by Ghanshyam Das Birla using Opium drug money in 1929-- as was the fashion , in those days. GD Birla was knighted by a grateful Rothscild at the age of 32. He was known to tell Gandhiji what to do, next.

Parsi opium drug runner SIR Cowasjee Jehangir Readymoney made Elphinstone College. He also made a big part of Mumbai University. See his picture below. He got knighted for making a fantastic fountain at Regents parl London.

Opium drug runner Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata made the Indian Institute of Science in 1911. Opium drug runner Hormusjee Modi made Hongkong University in 1911.

There are thousands of Opium records in US universities funded by Opium money like Yale University, Columbia University , Princeton University, Harward University, Carnegie Melon University , Chicago University, John Hopkins School of Pubic health, Rockfeller University and Ivy League universities, still being exhumed and researched

Let us NOT be under any illusion that building prestigious colleges is a philantropic exercise. Say, if you own a prestigious Medical College , many powerful members of the society, like politicians, police, judges, income tax officers will want to get free admission cirumventing merit-- this is how you grab the ultimate intoxicating power.

Bottom line: All said and done, Indians are grateful to the likes of TATA , who have proved to be patriotic and exemplary Indians .
The current generation will NOT be aware of what their forefathers did. In any case TATA has atoned the sins of their forefathers by being philanthropists of the first order -- with an exemplary core value of corporate ethics.
Note: Read my post DIRTY SECRETS OF BOSTON TEA PARTY dated 18th Dec 2010, to know the honourable drug runners of USA.

Prepare to be shell shocked !!

Grace and peace!

CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL
..

[ramana]

LSE pdf

The Integration of the Asian Cotton Textile Industry: Trade, Empire, and British Exports of Raw Cotton from India to China during the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries


and

From Japan:

Network of Entreprenuers in 1920s

[ramana]

Google books:

The Parsis of India

Sort of bolsters and provides back-up to what Bji has been saying a long time in the Forum.

[RoyG]

How about Marijuana? If India legalizes we can suck up all the money that is going into Afghanistan and South East Asia. It's also less dangerous than cigarettes and alcohol so it could emerge as a safer alternative to the citizenry. Moreover, it can also be used to alleviate pain and stress.

[ramana]

East india Company role in producing and procuring opium tp Chian has already screwed up the long term relations between the two states. This new proposal will make even more enemies.
Dealing in bad stuff has its own karmic retribution.

[RoyG]

What makes Marijuana "bad stuff"?

[Sushupti]

Indian cotton textiles in the eighteenth-century Atlantic economy

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/indiaatlse/2013/ ... c-economy/

[ramana]

Indian cotton textiles in the eighteenth-century Atlantic economy

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/indiaatlse/2013/ ... c-economy/

Interesting blame blog. Blame Indian textiles and the desire for them amopng Africans but not the purveyors of the misdeed.

Indian cotton textiles in the eighteenth-century Atlantic economy

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Editor

Kazuo Kobayashi explains how the demand for Indian cotton textiles among Africans underpinned the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the eighteenth century.

The eighteenth century saw the rapid development of the Atlantic economy, which was characterised by slavery-based plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean Islands producing profitable commodities such as sugar and tobacco for European consumers. There were harsh working conditions on the plantations and the mortality rate among labourers was high. The constant supply of labour from the African continent, mostly West Africa, was therefore key to maintaining commodity production.

Colonial trade routes

According to a recent project on trans-Atlantic slave trade, 6.5 millions slaves were exported during the eighteenth century from Africa across the notorious ‘middle passage’ to the Americas; 2.5 million of these were transported on British ships and 1.1 million on French ships.

European merchants bartered with local brokers along the African coast for slaves and other African products. They had to barter with highly desirable goods since discerning African brokers were known to reject the goods that Europeans brought across. The list of commodities imported from Europe into Africa included textiles, iron, brass, military goods, cowrie shells, beads, and alcoholic beverages. Indian cotton textiles comprised a large proportion of the imports. In the case of Anglo-African trade, piece goods of Indian cottons were the most important trades in exchange for African slaves, making up 30 per cent of the total export value in the mid-eighteenth century.

The value of Indian textiles was well established in pre-colonial Africa. Indian cotton fabrics dyed with indigo, often called ‘blue goods’ in English and ‘guinée’ in French, were an important exchange medium in the trade with African brokers, especially by Arab traders. In the Senegal River region, Indian textiles replaced an earlier currency of locally woven textiles and were established as a new regional currency in the late-eighteenth century. S. M. X. Golberry, who visited West Africa in the 1780s, observed that the distinct smell of indigo guaranteed the blue cloth as authentic currency, one the Europeans could not imitate.

In the early modern world, Indian cotton textiles continued to be highly reputed because of their affordability and quality, particularly their bright colours that did not fade when washed and exposed to sunlight. West Africa imported Indian textiles of various kinds such as bafta, brawl, calico, chintz, guinea stuffs, nicanee, photaes and tapseils. These textiles were used not only for men’s turbans and loincloths and women’s skirts, but also for conspicuous consumption. The wide range of imported textiles reflected the diverse preferences of African consumers, which varied over time and from place to place. It was essential, therefore, for European merchants to understand the changing tastes of African consumers, and Indian artisans were expected to customise their textiles to cater to regional demands.

Oscillations in the demand for slave labour in the New World directly affected the Euro-Asian trade in Indian textiles. For example, after the Seven Years’ War (1754-63), there was growing demand for slaves in British plantations in the Caribbean islands where Britain had acquired French colonies such as Guadeloupe and Martinique. The English East India Company therefore wrote a letter to Fort William in India (15 February 1765) requesting that more textiles be sent to London for use in African markets to purchase slaves.

In the City of London, the Company auctioned the textiles to wholesalers and merchants, both British and foreign. Thomas Lumley, a major London merchant at the turn of the nineteenth century, bought Indian cotton textiles from the Company and resold them to merchants in London and Liverpool who in turn invested in the Atlantic slave trade. This was one route through which Indian cotton textiles travelled from India to West Africa.

Indian manufactured textiles also reached African consumers via other European ports. In the eighteenth century, merchants had extensive business networks that were based on kinship beyond their home countries. In the case of English merchants, for example, the Dutch port cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam played an important role in supplying Indian fabrics and military goods to be exchanged in Africa. Similarly, Manx merchants imported Indian textiles and cowrie shells from Holland to Douglas in the Isle of Man, which was known for being a tax haven until the mid-eighteenth century. Douglas attracted Liverpool-based slave traders, and trade there helped the city emerge as a major hub of the slave trade.

Maritime connections with India and trade in Indian cotton textiles, which enabled Europeans to purchase slaves in pre-colonial Africa, thus played a key role in the development of the eighteenth-century Atlantic economy, and the subsequent rise of the West in the following century.

Kazuo Kobayashi is a PhD candidate at LSE’s Department of Economic History.
This post is based on Kobayashi’s Japanese-language publication, “The British Atlantic slave trade and Indian cotton textiles: The case of Thomas Lumley & Co.” in Socio-Economic History (Volume 77, Number 3, November 2011).

The key point that ithe control of maritime routes and the access to Indian markets enabled the Europeans to promote slave trade is buried at the bottom of the blog!!! I submit the desire for free labour to work the American plantations drove the trade more than any thing else. If not Indian textiles it would ahve been another commodity.

[ramana]

X-Post...

TEA - Addiction, Exploitation and Empire tells the history of tea, from its discovery by the Chinese, to the first British imports in the seventeenth century, through to the present day. It tells of how the British tax on tea led to violent smuggling, and the loss of the American colonies; of how the British addiction to tea led to war with China. It describes how tea was then planted up in the Empire - in India, Ceylon, and Africa. Intrepid and eccentric British planters opened up hundreds of square miles of tea - but at a terrible cost to the native people. Britain lost its empire yet, through the brands it controls, still dominates the world of tea.

http://www.rmoxham.freeserve.co.uk/Tea% ... 20book.htm