Essays on the two administrative and commercial centers during the Mughal period

a. Administrative and Commercial Centers:

Lahore, Delhi, Agra, etc. were both administrative and commercial centers during the Mughal period.

b. Internal Trade:

It is known from various sources that internal and external trade flourished under the Mughals.

As regards the internal trade it may be said that the trading community in India was quite large. Both the wholesale and retail trade was in vogue.

Food grains and bulk articles were moved by water transport. If there was a shortage of some goods in some parts of the country this was made good quickly by the merchants from other parts of the country.

There were both luxury items and articles of daily use which were traded. The luxury items had a huge demand at the Mughal harem.

The articles of daily use were produced in huge quantity and sold in the market. Besides, sugar, indigo, salt, etc. were the articles of daily use the price of which was not very high.

It must be noted here that indigo, saltpeter, sugar emerged as important industries and had demand in the foreign markets.

c. External Trade:

With the coming of the European merchants the external trade of India grew by leaps and bounds.

At first the prime trade of the foreign traders was indigo that was used to color the woolens.

In course of time raw silk and sugar in addition to textiles were very much on demand and were produced in huge quantity.

Another item which was developed was the export of saltpeter.

Thus it may be said from what has been stated above that the internal and external trade flourished during the Mughal period.