Chapter - Review:
- The sources of history are travellers’ accounts.
- Monserrate, Flitch, Thomas Roe, Domingo Paes, Nicolo Conti and Abdul Razzaq Samarqandi wrote about the life of this period.
- Some of the important court towns were Lahore, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi.
- Fatehpur Sikri was the new capital founded by Akbar.
- Delhi was known as Shahjahanabad and was built by Shah Jahan in 1639.
- Some towns developed as ports due to their proximity to the seashore.
- Some major ports were Cambay, Surat, Broach, Masulipatanam, Nagapattinam, etc.
- Some towns were capital cities. They were centres of administration.
- Thanjavur and Uraiyur were important centres.
- Temples towns were important centres of urbanization and led to the development of cities, economy and society.
- Pilgrims gave huge donations to temples. This wealth was used by temple authorities to finance their trade and banking.
- Important temple towns were Bhillasvamin in Madhya Pradesh, Somnath in Gujarat, Kanchipuram and Madurai.
- Bronze is an alloy compound of copper and tin.
- Chola rulers used this metal to make statues through the Tost wax’ technique.
- From the 8th century onwards, small towns emerged in India. They emerged from large villages. They had a ‘mandapika’ where villagers sold their produce.
- Likewise, there were market streets, called ‘hatta’, full of shops.
- Many villagers came to buy local articles and sell products like horses, camphor, saffron, betel nut, spices, salt, etc.
- Normally a Samanta was appointed who fortified the palaces and gave the right to collect taxes from traders, artisans, etc.
- Many kinds of traders existed.
- Trader travelled in caravans by forming guilds.
- Trade was done on a regular basis within the peninsula and with South-east Asia and China.
- Some other important traders were the Chettiars, Marwari, Banjaras, Baniyas, Muslim Bohras, etc.
- Craftwork was famous by the name of Bidri in the region.
- The goldsmith, bronzesmith, blacksmith, masons and carpenters were together called as the ‘Panchalas’ or ‘Vishwakarma’.
- Some other crafts were cotton cleaning, spinning and dying.
- Surat in Gujarat was a cosmopolitan city. The textiles of Surat were famous for their gold lace borders known as zari and had a market in West Asia, Africa and Europe.
