The Mughals, The Portuguese and the Indian Ocean
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Pius Malekandathil
Primus Books, 234 pages, Rs 850
Indian trade history from 1200 to 1800 is focused mostly on the inland activities of the Mughals and the Portuguese even though both rulers actually expended frequent efforts to control the vast, resourceful enclaves and profit-yielding neighbourhoods of maritime India. This book explores the transoceanic exchanges and circuits in the Indian Ocean, focusing on issues like the political implications of the religious dialogues between Akbar and Jesuits; the creation of parallel circuits to Ottoman markets in the eastern Mediterranean as an alternative to the Cape Route trade of the Portuguese; and the multiple strands of trade between coastal western India and the markets of East Africa.
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