The Role Of India In The 1700s

138 Words1 Pages
ESPERATE TIMES IN THE WAKE OF RAJ:
The Search for an Autonomous Economic Policy (1947-1966)
In the pre-colonization period of the early 1700s, India’s economy accounted for nearly onequarter of the world’s economic output. India’s wealth under the Mughal and Maratha dynasties attracted traders and aspiring conquerors from Europe and elsewhere. India was a major factor in global trade, notably in textiles. (As an estimate, India's share of world income collapsed from
22.6% in 1700, almost equal to Europe's share of 23.3% at that time, to as low as 3.8% in 1952.)3
2
The European colonization of India began with Portuguese inroads in the 16th century. But it took off in earnest through the actions of Britain’s East India Company, which initiated