Rivalry for Textiles: A Global Market

Abstract

Long before any East Indiaman ventured into the Indian Ocean, consumers throughout Asia had had access to Indian textiles. Archaeological finds from the fifteenth century provide plentiful evidence that these textiles were available in an area as wide as between the island of Sumatra and the deserts of Egypt.1 Soon after their arrival in Asia, it did not take the business-savvy servants of the European East India companies long to discover the existence of a flourishing local trade or intra-Asian trade in Indian textiles. These textiles were rated among the most cherished consumer items and theoretically they were the tools by which the companies could break into the Asian markets. In their early days in Asia, as far as the European companies were concerned, Indian textiles were a commodity they could trade to convince Asians to sell them other Asian goods such as the spices which were in great demand in Europe. Nor were they blind to the fact that the profits from this trade augmented their profitability in Europe. After initiating intra-Asian trade in textiles, these companies simply took the next step in the globalisation of trade by further extending trade in them to Europe.2 Therefore the arrival of the East India companies only extended this pre-existing trade farther west or better put simply invigorated an already existing trade.3