From Akbar to Aurangzeb: A Study in Indian Economic History

W.H. Moreland’s From Akbar to Aurangzeb is a study in Indian economic history of the first half of the seventeenth century during the reigns of the Mughal Emperors Jahangir and Shahjahan. This period is important from the standpoint of economic institutions and is marked by certain far-reaching changes which ushered in a new era in the commercial relations of India with the traders from the west. In the present work, Moreland has examined various details on the basis of hitherto-unpublished records of the Dutch, besides re-evaluating the English records of the period. Thus, he has succeeded in highlighting not only the changes that affected the balance of economic power, but has also analysed the most significant stages in the deterioration of Akbar’s administrative institutions. The book is divided into ten chapters, beginning with the analysis of the Asiatic environments. Chapters II to V deal, respectively, with the development of Dutch and English commerce of India, changes in foreign commerce of India, the establishment of new markets in Western Europe and the course of Indian markets. In chapters VI to IX have been discussed production and consumption, the economic results of famine, the economic influence of the administration and the system of taxation. In chapter X, summary and conclusion, Moreland has examined the economic forces vis-?-vis the administrative changes and their cumulative effect on the economy of the period, which, in his view, resulted in reducing the reward of production, leading ultimately towards national bankruptcy which eventually occurred. In the five appendices, Moreland has elaborated the details pertaining to the Dutch and English Companies, Early Dutch Exports to Europe, Mughal revenue statistics, currency, weights and measures and a list of authorities. Of added utility are two maps, one of India and another, the Asiatic seas, besides a detailed index.