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Ganges River Trade
Ganges river trade was an inland and coastal transport network centered on the Ganges–Brahmaputra river system in the Indian subcontinent, linking Ba…
Timeline
- 600–1050From Kanauj to Tamralipti · IndiaFrom the Gupta period onward, cities on the Ganges plain exchanged agricultural products and handicrafts by riverboat. After the Chola empire controlled the southeast coast, Bay of Bengal ports and the Ganges river system formed an integrated river-sea transport link, with cotton cloth and spices carried inland to North India and exported overseas.
- 1131–1140Ganges sections in Bengal and Bihar · BiharIn the 1130s the Sena dynasty ruled Bengal, and downstream Ganges shipping prospered. Riverboats carried rice, cane sugar, cotton cloth, and jute upstream along the Ganges to Kanauj and Varanasi, and downstream through ports such as Chittagong to connect with Chola and Southeast Asian maritime trade. Arab and Persian merchants also participated in entrepôt trade via the Bay of Bengal.
- 1206–1400Delhi and Bengal · DelhiAfter Islamic powers unified North India, Ganges shipping became an instrument of imperial finance and grain allocation. Bengal grain was shipped by river to supply northern Indian cities such as Delhi, and cotton cloth exports reached the Middle East and East Africa by sea, further integrating the river-sea transport network.
Sources
- The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume 1: c.1200–c.1750 — Tapan Raychaudhuri; Irfan Habib (1982)
- History of Bengal — R. C. Majumdar (1943)