A brief Historical account of the Cotton Route & the Economic Imperatives of its revival for India

• The ‘Indian Ocean Rim’

• Ancient Trade Routes in the Indian Ocean rim

• Historical account of Trade in the Indian Ocean rim

• The Cotton Trade – the Rise and the Fall

• Imperatives for India – Economic & Geo-political

• The Revival of the ancient trading relationships in the Indian

Ocean rim & Regional Cooperation

• Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

The Indian Ocean covers

68,536,000 square

kilometers, which is about a

fifth of the world's ocean

surface

India occupies a central and

strategic location in the

Indian Ocean area.

• The Indian Ocean covers 68,536,000 square kilometers, which is

about a fifth of the world's ocean surface

• The ‘Indian Ocean Rim’ touches Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica.

• Its outline extends from the East African coast north to the Arabian

Sea, down the western coast of India to Sri Lanka, and up India's

eastern coast, where it forms the Bay of Bengal.

• In the east, the region includes thousands of islands east of the Strait

of Malacca, the area between Southeast Asia and Australia that

leads to the Pacific.

• The Indian Ocean presents itself as a vital transit route among the

countries from Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and Europe, with vast cargo

traffic passing through the region.

• The world’s most important oil and gas routes traverse the Indian

Ocean, with roughly 55 % of known oil reserves and 40 % of gas

reserves.

And the Controls..

An anonymous work from around

the middle of the first century of

the Christian Era (CE/AD) written

by a Greek speaking Egyptian

merchant Indian peninsula was a

key supplier of cotton textiles and

spices among others

The first part of the work describes the maritime trade-routes following the north-

south axis from Egypt down the coast of East Africa as far as modern day Tanzania.

The remainder describes the routes of the East-West axis running from Egypt,

around the Arabian Peninsula and past the Persian Gulf on to the west coast of

India.

The Indian Ocean Rim

prominently features as

a part of the European

Trade routes

The Indian Ocean Rim prominently features in the trade network of the Dutch East India Company

Red is land route and the blue is the sea/water route

The trade routes from India to the west may be conveniently divided under two heads: the land routes and the marine routes

Silk was not the only product that moved across the silk road.

Chinese consumption of cotton was significant, but remains largely undiscussed.

What used to be the silk route for Chinese silk also used to be, in the reverse direction, a cotton

route

Chinese literary texts refer to maritime and trade activity between India and China as far back as

the 7th century B.C

Archaeological discoveries from sites at the Red Sea ports of Berenice and Myos Hormos imply

that India used to export cotton to a number of Central Asian countries via the ancient silk route.

A 2000 year old Cotton Route once existed between Indian and empires such as Rome, Egyypt,

Africa and Europe. These empires imported cotton cloth from the Indian subcontinent.

Barygaza (present-day Bharuch ) was the Indian port of that era, from where cotton would set

sail.

The Cotton Route, besides facilitating trade, used to serve as trade and cultural link between India

and its trading partners.

• The Indian Ocean trade routes connected Southeast Asia, India,

Arabia, and East Africa.

• Since 3rd century BC long distance sea trade moved across a web

of routes linking all of Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East

Africa as well as East Asia (particularly China)

• In the classical era, major empires involved in the Indian Ocean

trade included the Mauryan Empire in India, the Han Dynasty in

China, the Achaemenid Empire in Persia, and the Roman Empire in

the Mediterranean.

• Indian Ocean trade served as an important role in history, and has

been a key factor in East–West exchanges.

• Long distance trade in dhows and sailboats made it a dynamic

zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations

stretching from Java in the East to Zanzibar and Mombasa in the

West.

•

• The control of the Indian seas belong

predominantly to India till the 13th century

A.D.

• In respect of the Arabian Sea this control

meant only the freedom of navigation.

• In case of Bay of Bengal, supremacy was

both naval and political, based on an

extensive colonization of the islands

• The naval activity of the Indians was

controlled by organized corporations of

which the most important were the

Manigramam Chetties and the Nanadesis.

• The Sri Vijaya Kings maintained a powerful

navy which swept the sea of pirates.

• This supremacy ceased only with the

breakdown of Chola power in the 13th

century.

• Presently the western part of the Rim is

plagued with piracy

A brief history..

Prehistoric

Era, 90,000

BP to 5000

BCE

Ancient Era,

5000 to

1000 BCE

Classical

Era, 1000

BCE to 300

CE

Medieval

Era, 300 CE

- 1450 CE

First Global

Era, 1450

CE to 1770

CE

Industrial

and

Imperial

Era, 1770

CE to 1914

CE

Beginning of

farming and

humans on

the sea;

spread of

human

population

to all of the

continents

Trade along

the coasts

for fish,

shellfish, and

other goods

expanded to

include rare

items from

Africa such

as animal

skins,

feathers,

and ivory

Indian and

Arab ships

are known to

have sailed

directly from

Southern

Arabia to

the Malabar

coast of

India and

back

Trade

flourished in

the Indian

Ocean and

gradually

drew many

more regions

into its orbit.

Entry of

Western and

Northern

European

mariners into

the Indian

Ocean

caused

significant

changes in

trade and

other

exchanges

Takeover of

governments

by European

powers;

Extraordinar

y powers of

the East

India

Companies

were

replaced by

direct rule

from Britain

• There was trade within Asian waters in textiles, porcelain,

precious metals, carpets, perfume, jewellery, horses, timber,

salt, raw silk, gold, silver, medicinal herbs and many other

commodities

• Another major export item along the classical Indian Ocean

trade routes was religious thought. Buddhism, Hinduism, and

Jainism spread from India to Southeast Asia, brought by

merchants rather than by missionaries. Islam would later

spread the same way onwards 700s AD

• Economic and national security, and also cultural dominance

was ensured for that empire or imperial power which

controlled the trade routes

• The European East India Companies and later the imperial

British empire took over the trade and political control of the

Indian ocean rim, thus transforming the socio-cultural milieu of

the rim.

Its rise and fall..

• Textiles formed one of the chief items of export.

• In the early 16th century Gujarat region was a

leading center for cotton trade. Textiles from Gujarat

were exported to the Arab countries and to South-east

Asia.

• In the east Bengal was another important center for

trade in wide variety of textiles. Ibn Batuta, in the

14th century, reported of many cotton trade centers in

Bengal. Silks were also manufactured there. Textile

products included quilts of embroidered tussar, or

munga on a cotton or jute, silk and brocade edged

handkerchiefs.

• India's first cotton exports date back to the 1st century

AD

Textile trade in the Indian ocean region , particularly in India was

taken over by the East India companies of the European empires,

largely to meet the massive demand for Indian textiles, profitably.

Regaining Control over the Indian Ocean Rim Region

• India is fourth-largest economy in the world

• Major concern for India is meeting energy needs,

• 70% of India’s energy needs is dependent on oil import, major part of which comes

from gulf region

• China has increased its presence in ports near Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan

and its submarines have also been spotted near Sri Lanka.

• Although continental Shelf of Mumbai High, Gulf of Khambat and Krishna-Godavari

basin are rich in petroleum and natural gas. In spite of this India’s economic security

demands that all the sea lanes leading to the Indian Ocean, particularly the Suez

Canal and the Straits of Malacca be kept open at all the times.

• India’s national and economic interests are inseparably linked to the Indian Ocean

rim

• The Indian Ocean rim has to remain peaceful and free from superpower rivalry

• Increased cooperation among littoral countries in the region should be integral to

India’s foreign Policy (Look East policy, Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional

Cooperation, BIMSTECK and Ganga-Mekong Cooperation among others)

Formerly known as

Indian Ocean Rim

Association for Regional

Cooperation

India and Southeast Asia enjoy maritime relations that date back to ancient times.

Since trade between India and ASEAN is largely conducted through ocean, without a

stronger maritime connectivity it would not be possible to realize the full potential of

the regional free trade and cooperation agreements, which are already in place or are

currently under negotiation.

• A vibrant regional trading

arrangement, consisting of coastal

states bordering the Indian Ocean

• Seeks to foster regional and global

trade, cross-border investment

flows, bilateral and regional

sectoral cooperation and

harmonization of trade facilitation

and business practices

• Has seen five-fold rise in intra-

regional trade and significant

growth in the region’s global trade

experienced during the past

decade

Uddipan Nath

Faculty Member

IBS Business School, Kolkata

WDC Building, Plot-J3, Block-GP, Sector-V

Salt Lake, Kolkata-700091

Phone : 033-23577125

Mobile : 919830640744

Fax :0332357-

2901 Email : udnath@ibsindia.org

SSRN Author

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