Contents
List of Illustrations x
Acknowledgements xiii
Measurements xv
List of Terms xvi
Introduction 1
1 A new approach 3
2 Spices, tea and textiles 4
3 East India Companies and tea 7
4 East India Companies and textiles 9
5 The different chapters 12
1 Imperfect Monopolies 20
1 Imperfect monopoly in trade 21
1.1 Mix of commodities 23
1.2 Monopoly and private trade 26
2 Imperfect monopoly in Europe 30
2.1 Silver and taxation 31
2.2 Re-export of Asian commodities 35
3 Imperfect monopoly in Asia 38
3.1 Beyond silver 39
3.2 Intra-Asian trade and Empire 42
3.3 Empire and the home state 46
Conclusion 49
2 Rivalry for Tea: Empires and Private Trade 54
1 Tea, monopoly and competition 54
1.1 Competition for monopoly (1685–1730) 55
1.2 A competitive market (1730–1790) 61
2 Empires and tea 67
2.1 Direct trade and Empire 67
2.2 EIC intra-Asian trade and English country trade 69
2.3 British Empire and Canton 72
3 Private trade and tea 74
3.1 The ‘discovery’ of tea 74
3.2 Private trade and Batavia 79
3.3 Private trade in tea as a tool of competition 81
3.4 English private trade in tea 85
Conclusion 86
3 Popularisation of Tea: Smugglers and Different
Varieties of Tea 91
1 Tea and smuggling 92
1.1 The problem of contraband tea 93
1.2 An answer to smuggling 95
2 Smuggling and America 100
2.1 Unnoticed smuggling 101
2.2 British Empires connect 103
3 Selections of tea 105
3.1 Different varieties, different prices 105
3.2 A different selection of tea 112
Conclusion 120
4 Rivalry for Textiles: A Global Market 124
1 India, Europe and the Atlantic 125
1.1 Different systems of trade 125
1.2 The imports of Indian textiles 128
1.3 Textiles and mercantilism 133
2 Textiles and empire in Asia 138
2.1 Intra-Asian trade and textiles 139
2.2 Balancing Asia and Europe 140
2.3 English dominance 144
Conclusion 149
5 The Consumption of Textiles: Return Cargoes and Variety 154
1 Different regions, different textiles 155
2 Competition for textiles 160
2.1 Muslins 161
2.2 White calicoes 167
2.3 Coloured calicoes 174
3 Imports of Indian textiles and the Industrial Revolution 180
Conclusion 186
Conclusion 190
1 Popular consumption or not? 191
2 Rival empires of trade 193
Appendix 1 Primary Sources on the Trade in Tea and Textiles 198
Appendix 2 Denominations of Textiles 203
Bibliography 205
Index 215
List of Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Tea warehouse, Canton (Guangzhou), Chinese artists, c.1800 59
3.1 One of a pair of pictures showing the part of the Western
hongs or ‘factories’ at Canton (Guangzhou) by an unknown
artist, c. 1770 106
5.1 Fine white muslin bodice with lace inserts, India, Bengal ,
c. eighteenth-early nineteenth century. Hand spun,
hand stitched and handwoven, inlay jamdani technique 162
5.2 Furnishing cotton, fi ne fl oral red on cream, fantasy insects
and plants, plate printed, alum mordant and dyed madder
on plain weave, made in Britain, c.1770–1780 168
5.3 Pair of detachable cotton sleeves, c. mid-eighteenth century
Dutch (Indian painted chintz) fl oral with stylised inner
patterning, two tones of madder on cream 175
Graphs
A Total exports of silver to Asia, VOC and EIC
(in pound sterling) (1701–1795) 32
B Value of imports, sales, bills of exchange and export of
precious metals in guilders, VOC (1640–1795) 40
C Value of silver sent from Europe and bills of exchange
accepted in Asia in pounds sterling, EIC (1709–1800) 41
D Total imports of tea, VOC and EIC (in kg) 62
E Sales price per pound of tea, VOC (in pounds sterling
per Dutch lb) and EIC (pounds sterling per English lb) 64
F Purchase prices of tea in Canton (EIC, in pounds
per English lb) and in Canton and Batavia (VOC, in pounds
per Dutch lb) (1731–1781) 66
G EIC purchase prices of green tea (singlo, hyson and bing)
in Canton (in pounds sterling per English lb) (1715–1789) 109
H EIC purchase prices of black tea (bohea, congou and
souchong) in Canton (in pounds sterling per English lb)
(1715–1789) 110
I Percentage of different varieties of tea in the return
cargo of the EIC (% of the weight), 1715–1789 112
J Percentage of different varieties of tea in the return
cargo of the VOC (% of the weight), 1700–1794 113
K Total number of pieces of textile imported by the EIC and
the VOC (1700–1800) 129
L Purchase price of textiles in India, VOC and EIC (divided
into Bengal, Bombay and Coromandel) (in pounds sterling
per piece) (1700–1799) 134
M Price per piece of textile at the VOC sale (in guilders)
(1700–1780) 135
N Number of Indian textiles (in pieces) imported for the
Africa trade, EIC and VOC (1700–1789) 138
O Percentage of muslins, white calicoes and coloured calicoes
in the EIC return cargo of textiles from India (% of number
of pieces), 1713–1789 159
P Percentage of muslins, white calicoes and coloured calicoes
in the VOC return cargo of textiles (% of number of pieces),
1713–1789 160
Q Number of muslins (Bombay, Madras and Bengal) in the
returns of the EIC, 1713–1789 164
R Average price per piece of muslins (Bombay, Bengal and
Madras) returned by the EIC (in pounds sterling), 1713–1789 164
S Number of white calicoes (Bombay, Madras and Bengal)
in the returns of the EIC, 1713–1789 171
T Average price per piece of white calico (Bombay, Bengal
and Madras) returned by the EIC (in pounds sterling),
1713–1789 171
U Number of coloured calicoes (Bombay, Madras and Bengal)
in the returns of the EIC, 1713–1789 177
V Average price per piece of coloured calico
(Bombay, Bengal and Madras) returned by the EIC
(in pounds sterling), 1713–1789 177
Plates
1 Tea warehouse, Canton (Guangzhou), Chinese artists, c.1800.
Courtesy of Patrick Conner, Martyn Gregory Gallery London
2 One of a pair of pictures showing the part of the Western hongs
or ‘factories’ at Canton (Guangzhou) by an unknown artist c. 1770.
Courtesy of Patrick Conner, Martyn Gregory Gallery London
3 Fine white muslin bodice with lace inserts, India Bengal c.
eighteenth-early nineteenth century. Hand spun, hand stitched
and handwoven, inlay jamdani technique. Courtesy of the Textiles
Collection of the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham
4 Furnishing cotton, fi ne fl oral red on cream, fantasy insects and
plants, plate printed, alum mordant and dyed madder on plain
weave, made in Britain, c.1770–1780. Courtesy of the Textiles
Collection of the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham
5 Pair of detachable cotton sleeves, c. mid-eighteenth century Dutch
(Indian painted chintz) fl oral with stylised inner patterning, two
tones of madder on cream. Courtesy of the Textiles Collection of
the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham
6 Percentage of different varieties of tea in the return cargo of the
EIC (% of the weight), 1715–1789
7 Percentage of different varieties of tea in the return cargo of the
VOC (% of the weight), 1700–1794
Table
2.1 A comparison of amounts of tea and their purchase and sales prices, VOC and EIC (1700–1708) 57