Surat

Surat stands on the Tapi River near the Arabian Sea, at the meeting of Gujarat’s rich textile country and the routes of the Indian Ocean. In the seventeenth century it became one of the Mughal Empire’s greatest ports. Merchants of many communities traded cotton cloth, spices, bullion and other goods, while ships carried pilgrims from India towards the Red Sea and Mecca. The city’s warehouses, markets and river landing places served a commerce that reached from the interior of India to Arabia, East Africa and Southeast Asia.

After the Mughal conquest of Gujarat, Surat grew as an imperial port and attracted European trading companies alongside established Indian merchants. The English East India Company set up a factory in the early seventeenth century, followed by other European rivals. Its wealth also made the city a target: Shivaji’s forces raided Surat in 1664 and again in 1670, carrying away goods and money. In the eighteenth century political uncertainty and the rise of Bombay altered the balance of trade, though Surat remained an important commercial city. The East India Company gained control of its castle in 1759 and later extended its authority over the city. Surat’s history reflects both the reach of Gujarati merchants and the changing power of states and companies on the western coast.