Flourishing of Bengal's Textile Trade and Expansion of European Trading Companies (1630s)

Timeline

1. 1632Hooghly · Bengal regionIn 1632 Shah Jahan ordered the siege of the Portuguese factory at Hooghly on the grounds that the Portuguese enslaved Bengal's residents. After a siege of about three months the Portuguese garrison ran out of supplies and the town fell; thousands of Portuguese and their Indian allies were captured or scattered. Portugal's trading network in Bengal subsequently collapsed, creating space for the Dutch and English East India Companies to enter.
2. 1633–1638Hooghly and the Bengal coast · Bengal regionAfter the Portuguese withdrawal, the Dutch East India Company quickly set up factories at Hooghly and nearby, purchasing large quantities of fine cotton cloth, silk, and indigo from local weavers for markets in the Netherlands, Persia, and Southeast Asia. Through the advance-payment system (the 'dadani' system) the Dutch brought weavers into their trading network, accelerating the commodification and export expansion of Bengal textiles.
3. 1635–1639Bengal Delta production area · Bengal regionBy the mid-to-late 1630s, textiles represented by Dacca muslin (Muslim cloth), Santipore cotton cloth, and Malda silk had become among the largest-volume goods that European trading companies purchased in Asia. Competition between the Dutch and English East India Companies stimulated the expansion of local weaving industries, and Bengal's textile exports became deeply embedded in the multilateral Indian Ocean trading network, providing important economic momentum for the region.