The World of the Indian Ocean Merchant 1500-1800

This collection brings together some seminal essays of the late Professor Ashin Das Gupta, one of the pioneers of maritime studies in India. It is organised into two parts: one containing Professor Das Gupta's general essays, and the other his more specific ones on Malabar and Surat. These essays chronicle the rise and fall of Indian port cities and of the communities of merchants who traded from them.