Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s3.t10: Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s3.t10
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Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy
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Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (1783-1859) dominated Bombay's trade with China in the first half of the 19^th century CE. An orphan from the small town of Navsari in Gujarat, he came to Bombay (Mumbai) as a youth to assist in his uncle's bottle-selling business. Sensing the boom in the export trade in raw cotton to China, Jamsetjee was quick to seize the opportunity. He made several trips to China in quick succession in the first decade of the 19^th century CE and thereby established the foundations of a flourishing business. It was in the course of one of his voyages that he became acquainted with William Jardine who later co-founded the well-known China coast firm Jardine Matheson & Co.
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After 1807, Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy directed his vast and expanding commercial empire from Bombay. He dealt mainly in raw cotton and opium trade with China. He was the principal shipper of opium to Jardine Matheson & Co, in China and was an immensely powerful figure in the trade from Bombay. His ships, such as *Good Success*, *Bombay Castle*, *Fort William*, *Charlotte* and so on, were familiar sights in the Canton-Macau region. A large number of smaller merchants who engaged in trading with China from Bombay consigned their goods to his shipping business. Apart from his close relations with other Indian merchants and with British merchants in Bombay and the China coast Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy also had good relations with Chinese merchants at Canton (Guangzhou), especially the wealthy Hong merchant, Howqua (Wu Bingjian).
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[Figure: *Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Tata and his* *Chinese scribe*]
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From the 1840s, changes in the maritime trade between India and China including the influx of private British traders and the appearance of steamships worked to the disadvantage of Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and his commercial empire. His firm no longer dominated this trade, particularly after his death in 1859. Nevertheless, Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy remains an iconic figure in the history of Mumbai, especially because of his numerous charitable activities which included his role in setting up some of Mumbai’s best-known hospitals and educational institutions. An interesting legacy of Jamsetjee is the voluminous letters he left behind which are preserved even till today in the library of the University of Mumbai and which are among the main sources we have for the early growth of trade between Mumbai and China.