Page 2 - LN-sub topic-3-A Closer Look Hampi, Masulipatnam and Surat

(iii) Fierce competition among various trading groups – the Golconda
nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis, and European traders –
made the city populous and prosperous.

New Towns and Traders:

(i) The English emerged as the most successful commercial and political
power in the subcontinent. The spurt in demand for goods like textiles led
to a great expansion of the crafts of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing,
etc. with more and more people taking them up.

(ii) Indian textile designs became increasingly refined. However, this period
also saw the decline of the independence of craftspersons. They now
began to work on a system of advances which meant that they had to
weave cloth which was already promised to European agents.

(iii) Crafts and commerce underwent major changes as merchants and
artisans (such as weavers) were moved into the Black Towns established
by the European companies within these new cities.