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About the BookAbout the AuthorTable of ContentsExperts Say

Drawing on archival sources, The Call of the Sea examines the significant role played by Kachchhi traders in connecting Muscat and Zanzibar to the thriving emporiums of Bombay and Mandvi. It provides an insight into the business environment and sophisticated sea-trade network in the western Indian Ocean that existed in the nineteenth century. Kachchhi entrepreneurs carried on a flourishing trade in ivory and cloves, among other products. They also acted as bankers and financiers, and operated an effective credit network for Indian mercantile communities. The maritime history of the mercantile communities from Kachchhi is interwoven with the history of the littoral societies of Muscat and Zanzibar.

Dr Chhaya Goswami is an independent scholar based in Mumbai, and was a lecturer in Elphinstone College, Mumbai.

Tables
Maps
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1: Kachchhi: The Land and its People
Chapter 2: Kachchhis in the Trading World of Muscat
Chapter 3: Kachchhi Entrepreneurs and the Zanzibar Trade
Chapter 4: The Trading Firm of Jairam Shivji
Chapter 5: The Slave Trade and the Role of Kachchhis
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Maps
Bibliography
Index

‘. . . a fascinating and detailed account of the trading world of Kachchhi merchants in the nineteenth century.’

Marriam Dossal, Retired Professor of History, University of Mumbai