This chapter introduces the study, setting, argument, and plan of progression of Bankrolling Empire. In particular, I introduce the Jhaveri family of Ahmedabad and identify how the Mughal state provided new opportunities and challenges for the family by the early seventeenth century. The reader is left with the idea that traditional explanations of Mughal collapse such as bigotry of emperors, superior fighting power of rival warlords, and communal distrust between Muslim rulers and Hindu subjects are not adequate. Instead, I suggest financial crises were the chief cause that tipped Mughal administration beyond recovery. Such transformations in state and locality in Mughal Gujarat are highlighted by focusing on four generations of a remarkable business family, the Jhaveris of Ahmedabad, and their relations with political elites. The Jhaveris were deeply involved in political intrigue, courtly life, and the finances of Mughal officials and their rivals across two centuries.

The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate and quantify the ways in which the immigrants’ presence and manufacturing skills contributed to the development of the cloth industry in fourteenth-century England. In order to do so, the scale of the immigrants’ contribution to the industry will be examined through the number of workers, as well as the types of cloth they produced in England. The know-how they exhibited in the host country will be compared with their involvement in the textile industry of their home county prior to exile. Finally, the chapter will touch upon the immigrants’ mercantile activities and assess how their involvement in the trade in cloth and wool allowed them to increase profits and ensure control over the whole production process.

Returning to the Jhaveri family, Chapter 5 explores the climax of full-blown antagonism between key financial agents and sources of Mughal authority in what I am calling a phase of expedient extortion. I focus on the life and activities of Khushalchand (1680–1748), a third generation Jhaveri brought into the whirlwind of financing gubernatorial rivalries to the point of being violently extorted and forced into exile. In contrast to his forefathers, whose personal security was safeguarded and whose loans were repaid, Khushalchand experienced grotesque violence at the hands of Mughal officials. As a reaction and response, he sought protection by gambling capital on political futures. Given that multiple groups were vying for power as the Mughal state atrophied, Khushalchand reoriented his business towards raising finance for political elites, and brokered deals between armed groups who aspired control of Ahmedabad and its environs. In the process, he faced both criticism and praise from local residents and members of the business fraternity.

This book has examined the impact of the immigrant community on the English economy and the development of its cloth industry. The main hypothesis was to prove that Flemish immigrants had an influence on the development of the English textile industry, which grew exponentially from the mid fourteenth century. While several scholars have previously claimed that the number of textile workers from the Low Countries had probably not been higher than 200, we have seen throughout the book that at least 1,500 artisans immigrated to England between 1351 and 1381. This study has also gone beyond economic questions and touched upon the issues of social integration and cultural influence as well.

Chapter 1, a prelude, provides necessary background about the Mughal Empire, and details about its conquest of Gujarat beginning in 1572. Standard histories portray conquest as swift and decisive. The picture I present is somewhat different. Akbar’s annexation of Gujarat was a slow and protracted effort requiring the astute balancing of military force and the pacification and absorption of local political elites into Mughal administration. A successful campaign, as we shall see, absorbed local elites into the Mughal idiom of hierarchy, privileges, duties, and system of wealth distribution. The arranging of tribute payments and indemnities was a core feature of this system. Money over the course of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries became central to Mughal political dispensation. This background chapter concludes by laying out key opportunities Mughal rule provided for the Jhaveri family as they built their influence.

Chapter 2 focuses on the founding patriarch Shantidas Jhaveri’s activities in the early seventeenth century at the courts of Jahangir and his successor Shah Jahan. Jahangir was accustomed to the luxuries of the court, and grew fond of rare jewelry and other precious items. Shantidas established a formidable reputation as a fantastic jeweler and diamond dealer, one with the wealth and knowledge to procure rarities from around the world. Ships carrying such goods docked at the ports of Gujarat, and Shantidas and his agents purchased coveted items to then sell to high-ranking officials and Mughal emperors. The business activities of Shantidas took off after 1610. Given his close relationship with two successive Mughal emperors, I call this phase of Mughal-Jhaveri relations courtly mutualism since both sides gained from the interaction. This chapter identifies a range of sources including Persian chronicles, royal orders, religious praise poems in Sanskrit and Gujarati, and European travelogues to establish that Mughal-Jhaveri relations were initially symbiotic, setting the vantage point from which subsequent developments are analyzed.

Once the immigrants crossed the English Channel, new challenges appeared for all of them, whether they were economic migrants or exiles. These issues ranged from the legal situation and the choice of town for permanent settlement, to finding a residence and employment opportunities, which all represent the basis for a healthy start to life in a new place. The purpose of this chapter will therefore be to present the profile, the numbers and the occupations of the immigrants, and to identify those parts of the towns in which they took up residence. The main focus will be on those who were exiled from Flanders after the rebellion and on Flemish textile workers as identified from the sources on the other side of the English Channel. The chapter will start with the fortunes of Flemish immigrants in the English capital, then continue with the market town of Colchester, situated on the east coast, in the county of Essex, to finally turn attention to Great Yarmouth, the port town of the county of Norfolk. In order to reinforce my overall argument, the Flemish and Brabantine presence will be discussed in other towns throughout England.