Question

Describe the trade activities of the big and small traders belonging to the medieval time.

Answer 1

Hint: People, cities, and states have traded since antiquity but in the medieval period, things escalated so that goods traveled ever greater distances by land, river, and sea.

Complete step by step answer:
From ancient Indian merchants and traders to commercially engaged citizens. India had a rich trading relationship with neighboring and western countries in the early medieval period. Exports and imports are made up of precious metals, gold, silver, cloth, and goods.
- All kinds of merchants were there. This included the Banjaras and several merchants, especially horse traders.
- To safeguard their rights, the merchants generally traveled in caravans and formed guilds. From the eighth century onwards, there were many such guilds in South India - the most prominent were the Manigramam and Nanadesi. These guilds traded widely with Southeast Asia and China, all within the peninsula.
- There were also populations such as the Chettiars and the Marwari Oswal who became the country's main trade classes. The ports of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and China were frequently traded by Gujarati merchants, including the Hindu Baniyas and Muslim Bohras groups. Textiles and spices were sold in these ports, and gold and ivory were delivered from Africa in exchange; and spices, tin, Chinese blue pottery, and silver from Southeast Asia and China.
- Arab, Persian, Chinese, Jewish, and Syrian Christian merchants settled in the towns on the west coast. Italian merchants purchased Indian spices and cloth sold in the Red Sea ports and gradually entered European markets, making high profits. In the end, this attracted European traders to India.

Note: To safeguard their rights, the merchants generally traveled in caravans and formed guilds. From the eighth century onwards, there were many such guilds in South India - the most prominent were the Manigramam and Nanadesi. These guilds traded widely with Southeast Asia and China, all within the peninsula.