Farms, money and the Indian Ocean

Farming paid for the state. The state's main income was land revenue. As empires grew, more land was farmed. But collection became strict and often exploitative: under Alauddin Khilji and Muhammad bin Tughlaq the land tax reached 50 per cent of the harvest, plus other taxes.

Water for the fields. People used rope pulleys and the Persian wheel to lift water, so farms produced more. In the Vijayanagara Empire, irrigation ranged from big canal networks to small rain-fed plots; its special strength was small-scale irrigation.

The hundi: an old-time cheque. Carrying sacks of coins over long roads was slow and risky. A hundi was a paper bill of exchange: pay money in one town, get a hundi, and an agent in another town pays it out. It worked through networks of money-changers (sarrafs) and their agents (gumasthas), and it was trusted for big deals and long-distance payments.

Trade on land. Inland routes linked India with Central Asia; big groups of travelling traders, caravans, carried goods and skills. Trading communities like the banjaras linked villages with towns. Interestingly, the Delhi Sultans and later the Mughals did little in sea trade; coasts and ports stayed largely with regional rulers and local communities.

Trade on the sea. From the 13th century, sea trade grew, joining western India with the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. India became a hub of the Indian Ocean network, between the eastern Mediterranean and China. Krishnadevaraya, in his Amukthamalyada, told rulers to manage their ports well and treat foreign traders fairly.

Europeans arrive. In the 16th century the Portuguese came, and after them the Dutch, English, French and Danes, entering a system that Indian institutions already ran. The Portuguese tried to control sea trade; the Mughals tried to centralise land revenue. Indian merchants worked as traders, shippers, bankers, money-changers, brokers, interpreters (dubhashis), diplomats and officials. Gujarati merchants gained most, and merchants did well in Bengal, Malabar and Coromandel. Even farming communities such as the vellalar took part, some learning Portuguese, French, English and Persian. Peasants grew raw cotton while weavers, dyers and bleachers made the cloth that was sold abroad.

Why it matters. Despite invasions and unrest, the economy stayed dynamic. Its strength gave people the resources to resist and to keep their culture alive. So, from 1000 to 1700 CE, this was a story of conflict and cooperation together, with resistance and resilience joined.