A History of Agriculture in India v2.c59.s12.1

v2.c59.s12.1

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Arabs were the masters of the Indian ocean and they completely controlled the maritime trade between India, Middle East and Europe. Indian goods were carried to Alexandria and Damascus by caravans of camels, and from there reached Mediterranean countries through Italian merchants. Some of the countries round the Persian Gulf depended on India for their food supply. The export trade of India was mainly through the ports of Gujarat, Malabar and Bengal. Aden was the port of call for ships arriving there from Cambay, Thāna, Quilon, Calicut, Fandarina, Shaliyat, Mangalore, Fakanor, Hinawr, and Sindabur. A colony of Indian merchants lived in this city. A minor entrepot of the Indian trade was the neighbouring port of Zhafar (Defar), which exported horses to India in return for Indian rice and cotton. On the Indian side Malabar was the clearing house of the merchandise from the East and the West across the Indian Ocean. Merchants of Fārs and Yemen disembarked at the port of Mangalore, and Chinese ships bound for India entered the ports of Ely, Calicut, and Quilon.