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This book presents the economic history of the English East India Company's trade as it functioned from Madras (Chennai) during the second half of the 18th century. It traces the role of trade and commerce as followed by the European EICs to achieve their economic ends, territorial expansion and control of productive resources. The author portrays the nature, contents, volume and changing trends of trade and commerce over a decisive period of Indian economic history. The volume discusses the chief constituents of trade in general, exports, investments, imports and private trade and traders of Madras from 1746 to 1803.
Rich in archival resources, this is an essential resource for administrators, students, scholars and researchers of colonial history and modern Indian economic history, besides British trade history.
List of contents
List of illustrations
List of tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Acronyms
1 Introduction: Colonialism - Private enterprise - Trade - Debates - Historiography
2 Exports
3 Investments
4 Imports
5 Private
6 Houses
7 Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
About the author
Moola Atchi Reddy is a former professor at the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Joining as the first faculty member in 1979, he retired as professor in 2006 after serving for nearly 27 years. He is a recipient of meritorious medals from the two Departments of Economics, Andhra University, Waltair. He was a research assistant for the project on the Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol. 2, ed. Dharma Kumar (1982). With a PhD in economic history from the Delhi School of Economics, he worked at Ford Foundation, New Delhi and Sri Venkateswara University (1976–8). He won ‘the R.S. Mathur Memorial young Social Scientist award,’ 1986, for the best paper presentation: ‘Trends in the Agricultural Wages in Some South Indian Districts, 1800–1980’, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, XXVIII:4, 1986, pp. 307–49. He has published three books: Lands and Tenants in South India: A Study of Nellore District, 1850–1990 (1996); Trade and Commerce of the East India Company in India (Madras), vols. 3 (2006); and The East India Company and Urban Environment in Colonial South India, Madras, 1746–1803 (Routledge, 2022). More than 60 of his articles have been published in refereed journals and edited books, in addition to over 100 partly and unpublished papers presented in various conferences, seminars and workshops. Studies of colonial Madras/Chennai besides irrigation and labour problems are his present research interests.
Summary
This book presents the economic history of the English East India Company’s trade as it functioned from Madras (Chennai) during the second half of the 18th century. It traces the role of trade and commerce as followed by the European EICs to achieve their economic ends, territorial expansion, and control of productive resources.
