IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India History From 8th to 15th Century - Rise of Urban Economy Trade and Commerce

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From 8th to 15th Century

Rise of Urban Economy Trade and Commerce

Structure

21.0 Objectives
21.1 introduction
21.2 Growth of Towns
21.3 Urban ~anufactures
21.4 Trade and Commerce
21.4.1 Inland Trade
21.4.2 Foreign Trade: Seaborne and Overland
21.4.3 Commercial Classes
21.4.4 Transport
21.5 Let Us Sum Up
21.6 Key Words
21.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

21.0 OBJECTIVES

In this Unit, you will study the development of urban economy and expansion of
trade during the 13th-14th centuries. After reading this Unit, you should be able to
learn that in the Delhi Sultanate three interrelated developments occurred :

a considerable increase in the size and possibly in the number of towns,
a marked rise in craft production, and
a corresponding expansion in commerce.

21.1 INTRODUCTION

The available evidence suggest that the urban economy on the eve of the Ghorid
conquest waq on a low ebb. The towns were fewer in number and smaller in size in the
centuries preceding the establish'ment of the Delhi Sultanate. D.D.Kosambi shows
that even the capital was a camp city on the move. The higher ruling class wandered
from place to place along with the army while the lower ruling class was almost
completely ruralized. This view of urban decline has been supported by R.S. Sharma
who has cqnvincingly reasserted his theory of urban decay with the help of enormous
archaeological data painstakingly collected.
This theory of decay of towns is further corroborated by the evidence of sluggish
trade: The near complete disappearance of gold and silver currencies and the almost
total absence of foreign coins in the Indian coin-hoards of the period are indicators
that the foreign trade was at a very low scale. Moreover, the fact that not even the
coins of various regional dynasties are found in the coin-hoards of other regions
,suggests that inland commerce was not widespread. All this scenario changed almost
immediately with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. The archaeological and
numismatic evidence corroborate the literary evidence of growth of towns and
- increase in commerce. This led Muhammad Habib to postulate a theory of 'Urban
Revolution' as mentioned earlier in Unit 19.