Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Industry in Sangam
Industry in Sangam
Industry in Sangam
demand
UNIT 30 EXPANSION OF TRADE AND for Indian goods brought merchants and ships from the Roman world in the west in
URBAN CENTRES close contact with peninsular India. This provided a major impetus to the growth of
trade and of urban centres.
All these again are associated with the growth of crafts specialization or growth of
Structure skill in producing crafts items which were required for members of the society either
30.0 Objectives in local exchange or for long-distance trade. For example, different types of pottery,
30 1 Introduction bead-making, glass-making, weaving of cloth, all required different skills.
30.2 Types of Trade It has however to be remembered that all corners of India were not uniformly affected
30.2.1 Local trade
30.2.2 Long distance overland trade
by these changes. There were, and there continued to be areas in which earlier forms
30.2.3 Long distance overseas trade of culture persisted. Secondly between the Deccan and the far south, changes were
30.3 Aspects of commercial organisation more prominent in different part$ of the Deccan. In the beginning, changes were slower
30.4 Exchange Facilities and limited temtorially in the far south.
30.5 Coins as media of Exchange Different aspects of the G I owth of trade and of urban centres can be studied under the
30.5.1 Local Coins
30.5.2 Punch-marked coins following heads;
30.5.3 Roman Coins Exchange mechanism in local transactions and long-distance trade,
30.6 Revenue From Trade Organisations of guilds,
30.7 Weights and Measures Transportation. Storage and shipping,
30.8 Urban Centres Means of exchange,
30.9 The Impact of Trade and Urban Centres on Society Revenue from trade,
30.10 Let Us Sum Up Urban centres, and
30.11 Key Words Economic and social changes brought about by trade and urbanisation
30.12 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises.
eco-zones, there emerged several centres as points of contact. These contact points and traders (
were often junctions on the traditional routes. d) The circulation of the luxury good was among the members of the crowned
monarchs and their family ( )
Some of these centres became more active because of regular exchangeactivities. It will
e) Long distance trade was not dependent on the local exchange net works in the
not be appropriate to call them 'urban' in the modern sense of that term. However, the Deccan
contemporary society viewed them as distinct from ordinary peasant settlements. ( )
2) Write five lines on the relations between the monasteries and the traders.
Inland towns like Uraiyur (near modern Tiruchirapalli) Kanchi (Kanchipuram) and
Madurai had markets. They too had not developed into full-fledged urbancentres.
Pattinams or port-towns were more active unuer the patronage of the rulers. There
were several such centres. On the east coast: Puhar or Kaveripumpattinam (of the
Cholas), Arikamdu, Korhai (of the Pandyas); On the west coast: Muziris and Tyndis
(of the Cheras), Bakare and Neleynda. They were centres of maritime trade and some
of them like Arikamedu had 'colonies' of the 'Yavanas'. Muziris was a busy centre with
a port crowded with ships of all kinds, with large warehouses and markets.
3) Write five lines on the impact of trade and urbanism on the local traders and artisans.
Since the emphasis of trade at the port-towns was on luxury items, the pattinams were
not closely linked with the local exchange network. They remained as "pockets of
foreign trade" with mainly the rulers and the rich as the clientele. The growth of these
centres was thus a result of external trade. With the decline of external trade, these
centres too dwindled and disappeared slowly.
The nature of these urban centres was thus characterized by the absence of:
a) Linkage with the local exchange networks
b) craft specialisation
c) support of such institutions as monastery and guild.