Early Historic Gujarat and the Trading World of the Western Indian Ocean

The chapter discusses the cultural milieu of seafaring activity in Gujarat between the fourth century BCE and the fourth century CE, the objective being to highlight the cultural factors that impacted trans-oceanic contacts. It underscores the autonomy of trading activity, vis-à-vis political organization in this period. Rulers certainly tapped the revenues from trade, but neither controlled nor initiated trade. Trade involved a complex range of transactions, with gifts to those in authority, and prestige commodities required by powerful groups and residents of cities at one end of the scale, while barter and monetary exchanges were the norm at the local and regional level. The chapter is in two sections: the first highlights internal routes across Gujarat that linked the coastal centres to towns and villages; while the second places Gujarat within the early historic sailing world of the western Indian Ocean up to the Red Sea.

Ancient history · Autonomy · Barter · Business · Economics · Economy · Fur trade · Geography · Indian ocean · International trade · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Prestige · Revenue · Finance · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Maritime Security and History · Oceanography