Situated on the western coast of Gujarat, on the left bank of the Tapti River, on the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhat); it has been a very important center of trade and commerce.
Although Surat is considered ancient, being associated with the folklores of Lord Krishna, the present-day city came to prominence during medieval times. Previously, the nearby Rander, on the right bank of the Tapti, was the principal commercial center south of Bharuch. Surat emerged with the decline of Rander. By the sixteenth century, Surat became an important city for its port and trade. In 1573, Surat was passed off into Mughal hands. During the Mughal times, it was India’s gateway to the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The port of Surat enjoyed prosperity especially from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Surat emerged as one of the major centers of world capitalism.
Even though the Portuguese Company had no settlement here, it controlled the nearby Diu and Daman. From there, the Portuguese enforced their cartaz system on the local ships on the sea. This led to their controlling the trade from Surat. The cartaz system was a pass for safe passage for which the merchants had to pay the levy. Any ship that fell into the Portuguese hands and did not have the cartaz was confiscated. Free cartaz were given to the Indian rulers. Akbar, the Mughal emperor, also obtained one from the Portuguese viceroy of Goa. Apart from this, the Portuguese prohibited the movement of munitions, spices, pepper, iron, copper, and wood by the Turks and Ethiopian Muslims, who were the main competitors.
At the political level, Akbar was not satisfied with the Portuguese, but he did not engage them militarily. However, the relation between Mughals and Portuguese deteriorated particularly in 1613 when the Portuguese seized four imperial vessels near Surat. Consequently, the Mughal governor of Surat was ordered to take action against the Portuguese. As the navy was the weak point of the Mughals, the help of the British was necessary to defeat the Portuguese, and the privileges granted to the Portuguese were withdrawn.
With the emergence of the British and the Dutch in the Indian Ocean trade, the Portuguese superiority on the seas was undermined. In fact, the coming of Dutch and British to extend their trade to Gujarat was welcomed to break the Portuguese monopoly. The new emerging powers now gained access to India. They were granted permission by the Mughals to set up their first factory in Surat. The British (1613) and Dutch (1617) started by opening their factories in Surat. Later on, the French also opened their factory in 1664. These factories were warehouses and trade settlements, and not manufacturing factories.
Surat had a developed credit market. This functioned through brokers. Every businessman, big or small, operated through these brokers. Also, a complex interplay of caste relations went into the trading and financing structure. Various communities like the Baniyas, Jains, Bohras, and Sarrafs would participate in it. Among the Indian traders of Surat, there was Virji Vora, who during the first half of the seventeenth century engaged in banking, shipping, and trade. Even the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) would raise finances from him. Another figure was Abdul Ghaffur. He was the largest merchant during the latter half of the seventeenth century. He owned over twenty ships with a huge carrying capacity that was comparable to the European concerns at Surat. His trade extended from Manila to Mocha. The other Indian traders owned a lesser number of ships. Some ships were also owned jointly. Indian shippers had their agents in overseas trade centers like Bander Abbas, Basra, Malacca (Melaka), Acheh, and Bantam. By 1650, Surat had fifty oceangoing ships. By turn of the seventeenth century, this number had increased to 112.
By the seventeenth century, Surat had become more important than the other two seaports on the Arabian Sea by way of Lahri-Bandar on the Indus and Dabhul in Konkan. Surat served as the terminus to the hinterland that was connected by the road through Malwa by way of Burhanpur. During the latter half of the seventeenth century, Surat was conducting trade with Siam (present-day Thailand). Indian textiles were sent to Ayutthaya, the traditional capital of Siam, and tin was brought back. Surat also had trade relations with China. Though the Chinese trade had earlier suffered because of the toppling of the Ming dynasty in 1644, by 1690 Surat was able to develop regular trade relations with Canton (Guangzhou). At the same time, its trade with Persia and Mocha continued.
The growth of Bombay and the decline of Surat were simultaneous. Surat no longer retains its importance as a seaport. However, it continues to be an important industrial center of the manufacture of textiles, chemicals, gold and silver works, and the processing of diamonds.
Anup Mukherjee
See also: Indian Ocean Trade.
Das Gupta, Ashin. Indian Merchants and the Decline of Surat, 1700–1750. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1979.
———. The World of Indian Ocean Merchants, 1500–1800: Collected Essays of Ashin Das Gupta. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.