Overland Carvan routes in India during seventeenth Century.

 India carried trade with the neighbouring countries since times immemorial. The Indian foreign trade, before the second half of the seventeenth century when the European presence became quantitatively important, was carried on through the countries located in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. This distance traversed in the course of this trade meant that the funds invested by merchants matured after a long period of time. Therefore, the trade had to be carried in bulk goods that fetched a higher rate of return. Moreover, different regions had varying access to this overland trade. The regions lying on the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent were actively engaged in it than the regions on the east. The coastal regions had access to these countries through the sea.

In terms of total value of the precious metals, the trade carried with the Red Sea took a lead from the one carried with the Persian Gulf. There were two major markets at Mocha, one was the local market covering the region of Yemen, the African coast of Red Sea and Hadramaut coast. The other market catered to the needs of the Haj pilgrims. The local market was dominated by the Turkish merchants. Gujarati banias were also actively engaged in this trade, whose factors were placed in inland centres such as Sana, Beit al Faqih and Tais where bulk of textiles were brought through the overland trade routes. Hence, the overland centres catered to the sea routes and their alternatives, where lesser taxes could be paid.

Overland trade routes were more favourbale in terms of safety and welfare of the merchants. These routes were directly under the control of the ruling regimes in contrast to the sea routes that lay at the mercy of European companies. The former were well protected in case of problems enroute, had better facilities for lodging and the overhead charges were comparatively low.

India and Iran were engaged in an active trading relationship throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century. As aptly stated by Tavernier, there were always merchants who preferred the overland trade route:

For although it is very easy to take a ship at Gombroon2 , there are always merchants who take the land route, and it is by this route come the finest textiles made in India.

Many factors worked in favour of overland routes till the mid-1630s such as the conflict of European Companies and their efforts at reducing the share of the Asian merchants.

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