Abu'l-Fazl compiled the Ain-i-Akbari as part of the Akbarnama (written c. 1589–1596). It is a key near-contemporary reference for Mughal administration and courtly production systems, including imperial provisioning that drew on specialized crafts such as textiles.
Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the English East India Company, enabling an organized corporate buyer to scale procurement of Indian cotton textiles (calicoes, painted/printed cloths, muslins) for European and re-export markets.
The Company established an early Indian factory (trading post/warehouse) at Masulipatnam on the Coromandel Coast, strengthening procurement links to south Indian cotton textile zones that supplied painted and printed cloths for export.
After the Company’s early arrival at Surat (1608), Mughal authorization enabled a Surat factory and entrenched Surat’s role as a major export entrepôt for western Indian cotton textiles and related dyeing/finishing trades.
From the mid-17th century, European East India companies imported Indian cotton textiles at large scale; a widely cited estimate for the English East India Company is an average of about 15 million yards per year (1670–1760). This sustained export demand encouraged specialization in weaving, dyeing, and printing across Mughal India.
By the 1680s, Indian cottons (including chintz) were being imported into Europe in very large quantities; museum-based syntheses describe peak levels around this decade, alongside growing backlash from European wool/linen/silk interests.
Parliament passed the 1700 Calico Act (royal assent 1700-04-11), initiating restrictions aimed at protecting domestic producers from imported Indian cotton textiles. The policy response reflects the competitive pressure Mughal-era cotton exports created in Europe.
A stronger prohibition followed with the 1720/1721 Calico Act (royal assent 1721-03-23), limiting use/sale of many cotton textiles in Britain. Such measures pushed some demand into smuggling and re-export circuits while also encouraging British cotton manufacturing based on raw-cotton imports.
British forces captured the French settlement of Chandannagar (Chandernagore) in Bengal during the Seven Years’ War, tightening British leverage over Bengal’s export channels that handled fine cotton textiles among other commodities.
The East India Company’s victory at Plassey brought Bengal under de facto Company control, a turning point that increasingly reshaped textile procurement, pricing power, and export finance in one of South Asia’s most important cotton and silk textile regions.
The Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years’ War was signed on 1763-02-10; it reset aspects of European competition in India (including French positions such as Chandannagar), within a context of expanding British influence over Bengal’s export economy.
The Company’s victory at Buxar strengthened its leverage over Mughal authority and regional rulers, accelerating the shift from trade privileges to fiscal control that would directly affect textile production incentives and commercial flows in eastern India.
The Treaty of Allahabad (signed 1765-08-16) granted the East India Company Diwani rights in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa—formalizing Company control over revenue collection. This fiscal transformation undercut earlier Mughal-era trade finance patterns and helped redirect the region’s textile economy under Company priorities.
Cotton textile production, workshops and export under the Mughals (16th–18th centuries)
