Structure and Agency in the World of Asian Commerce during the Era of European Colonial Domination (c. 1750-1950)

Author: Markovits, Claude

Source: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Volume 50, Numbers 2-3, 2007 , pp. 106-123(18)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

This paper examines the theme of the 'survival' of Asian business in the period of European colonial domination in Asia, i.e. c. 1750-1950, through the trajectories of some Indian merchant communities. It shows how Indian nationalist discourse systematically overlooked the role played by Indian merchants in the economies of colonized countries outside India. A critique of the paradigm of the great pan-Asian bazaar as put forward by the Indian historian Rajat Ray follows. The last section looks at two networks of Sind merchants which operated worldwide during the colonial period, and proposes a different reading of the evidence regarding the insertion of Indian merchants within a European-dominated world economy.

Keywords: ASIA; BAZAAR; MERCHANTS; COLONIALISM; CAPITALISM

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156852007781787350

Affiliations: 1: CNRS, Paris

Publication date: 2007-06-01