Trade routes and ports through history

Harappans set up settlements where materials were found: Nageshwar and Balakot for shell, Shortughai in far-off Afghanistan near the best source of lapis lazuli, and Lothal near sources of carnelian (from Bharuch), steatite and metal. Goods moved by bullock cart, and probably along rivers and the coast.

Copper was probably also brought from Oman: both Omani copper and Harappan artefacts carry traces of nickel, and a large Harappan jar coated with black clay has been found at Omani sites — perhaps exchanged, with its contents, for copper.

Mesopotamian texts of the third millennium BCE mention Dilmun (probably Bahrain), Magan (perhaps Oman) and Meluhha — possibly the Harappan region, ‘a land of seafarers’ — and list Meluhha’s products: carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold and woods. Dilmun’s weights followed the Harappan standard.

Lothal, in Gujarat, had a huge dockyard; ships and boats are also shown on Harappan seals.

In the 1st millennium BCE, routes opened for trade, pilgrimage and military campaigns. The Uttarapatha linked the north-west to the Ganga plains and on to eastern India — from Gandhara (modern Kandahar) through Takshashila, Varanasi and Pataliputra. The Dakshinapatha went from Kaushambi through Ujjayini to Pratishthana (Paithan), crossing the Vindhyas.

Precious stones, shells and pearls, coins, gold and diamonds, as well as cotton, spices and sandalwood. Textiles, agricultural produce, gems, handicrafts and animals were among the main items of trade, and many Indian goods went on to distant countries by land or sea.

Traders, craftsmen, moneylenders and agriculturists formed guilds (shrenis) with elected heads, sharing information and making their own rules. Growing trade also brought India’s first coins — silver punch-marked coins — which were exchanged across regions.

Virtually all major towns lay along routes of communication: Pataliputra on a river route, Ujjayini on land routes, and Puhar near the coast, where sea routes began. The Mauryas chose Taxila and Ujjayini as provincial centres because they sat on important long-distance trade routes.

Ashoka said he had rest houses and wells built at regular intervals along the main roads of his empire, and fruit and shade trees planted.

Satavahana coins, found from Gujarat to Andhra Pradesh, often depict ships. Their trade reached the Roman Empire — spices, textiles, sandalwood, gold-plated pearls and ivory going out, glass and perfumed ointments coming in — and the Naneghat caves near a major route served as toll posts and rest stops.

The Cheras traded extensively with the Roman Empire and West Asia, exporting spices, timber, ivory and pearls. The Pandyas, known for their pearls and an important naval power, traded with the Greeks and Romans, as Megasthenes noted.

Roman gold coins have been excavated in Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in Kerala and Tamil Nadu; from such finds scholars conclude that this trade was in India’s favour.

The Kushanas held significant sections of the Silk Route, which connected China with the Mediterranean world through Central Asia and Persia; under them trade grew, linking India with other parts of Asia and the West.

In the Gupta era India traded with the Mediterranean world, Southeast Asia and China, exporting textiles, spices, ivory and gemstones. On Socotra Island in the Arabian Sea, pottery, Brahmi inscriptions and a stupa design show Indian traders were present over several centuries.

Under the Cholas, trade with China thrived. One sea route ran through the Strait of Malacca, controlled by the Shrivijaya king; in 1025 Rajendra Chola’s navy, supported by Indian merchant guilds, defeated Shrivijaya in a punitive expedition. West-coast seaports and shipyards kept trade with China and Southeast Asia growing.

Trade, pilgrimage and culture carried Indian traditions abroad peacefully: around the 4th century CE, the region of present-day Malaysia adopted a script based on India’s Brahmi script.

Indian goods were exported through coastal and riverside towns such as Calicut, Mangalore, Surat, Masulipatnam and Hooghly. India imported much less than it exported — silk, horses, metals and luxury goods — and merchants from Arabia, Persia and Central Asia settled in Indian ports.

The hundi — a written instruction to pay someone — let merchants move funds across political borders without carrying money, making them less vulnerable to plunder. Communities such as the Marwaris built systems of credit and trust that worked across regimes.

Krishnadeva Raya urged kings to improve harbours so that horses, elephants, gems, sandalwood and pearls were freely imported. The Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes called Hampi ‘the best-provided city in the world’ for the variety traded in its bazaar.

The port town of Ullal, in present-day southern Karnataka, was an important trading point under Rani Abbakka I, who formed alliances with neighbouring kingdoms and thwarted repeated Portuguese attempts to take it in the later 16th century.

Vasco da Gama reached Kappad, near Kozhikode, in May 1498. The Portuguese seized ports including Goa (1510), their capital, and made every ship in the Arabian Sea buy a cartaz (pass) — giving them a near-monopoly of the spice trade with Europe for about a century.

The Dutch East India Company traded mainly in spices, with posts at Surat, Bharuch and Cochin in the west and Nagapattinam and Masulipatnam in the east, until Travancore defeated it at Colachel in 1741. The French set up posts at Surat (1668) and Pondicherry (1674).

Keeping up a pretence of being mere traders, the English East India Company set up trading posts at Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta between 1612 and 1690; local rulers, who welcomed foreign trade, did not object at first.

Europeans forced Indian ships to buy naval passes; under Kanhoji Angre the Marathas won many naval battles and began demanding passes from the Europeans themselves — who called him a ‘pirate’.