Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion: 1770â?"1870

by C. A. Bayly

Overview

This path-breaking work on the social and economic history of colonial India traces the evolution of north Indian towns and merchant communities from the decline of Mughal dominion to the consolidation of British empire following the 1857 'mutiny'. C.A. Bayly analyses the response of the inhabitants of the Ganges Valley to the upheavals in the eighteenth century that paved the way for the incoming British. He shows how the colonial enterprise was built on an existing resilient network of towns, rural bazaars, and merchant communities; and how in turn, colonial trade and administration were moulded by indigenous forms of commerce and politics. This edition comes with a new introduction.

This book is an important reading for students, scholars, and teachers of modern Indian history, economic history, and sociology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199088737
Publisher:	OUP India
Publication date:	04/19/2012
Series:	Oxford India Perennials
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

C.A. Bayly, University of Cambridge

C.A. Bayly is Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

List of Maps
Preface
Abbreviations
Notes on the use of Indian words and on geography
Introduction
1. Prologue: War and Society in Eighteenth-century India
2. Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics
3. Stability and Change in the Cities, 1780-1810
4. The Rise of the Corporations
5. The Growth of Political Stability in India, 1780-1830
6. The Indigenous Origins of the 'Colonial Economy'
7. The Crisis of the North Indian Political Economy, 1825-45
8. Conflict and Change in the Cities, 1800-57
9. Small Towns in the Political Economy: The Qasbah under Pressure
10. The Merchant Family
11. The Merchant Family as a Business Enterprise
12. Towns, Trade, and Society after the Great Rebellion
Conclusions
Epilogue to the Indian Edition
Bibliographic Note
Glossary
Index