Economy & Society (16th-17th Century)

Nature: A period of high agrarian extraction coupled with a flourishing proto-industrial textile trade.
Key Feature: The integration of India into the global 'Silver Flux' through exports to European companies.

1. Agrarian Structure

Production: Primarily for subsistence but with a growing sector of 'Commercial Crops' (Cash Crops) like Indigo (Bayana), Cotton (Gujarat), and Sericulture (Bengal).
New Crops: Contribution of the Portuguese in introducing New World crops like Potato, Tomato, Chillies, Tobacco, and Maize in the 17th century.
Peasant Classes:
- Khud-kashta: Resident cultivators who owned their tools.
- Pahi-kashta: Migrant laborers who moved for better revenue terms.

Silver Influx: India's exports of textiles, saltpeter, and indigo resulted in a massive influx of silver from the Americas via European traders.
Hundis: Bills of exchange that allowed for the transfer of funds and credit across long distances without the movement of actual gold/silver.
The 'Banyan' and 'Sarraf': Native merchant and banking classes who controlled the local credit markets and often financed European trade.

Mansabdars: The top-heavy imperial elite whose high salaries caused a massive concentration of wealth in urban centers.
Zamindars: Hereditary rural elites with military power (Zaltalabs); they were the primary link between the state and the peasantry.
Artisans: Specialized guilds in textiles, metallurgy, and ship-building (especially on the West Coast).

Indigo: Indigo was not just a British-era crop; it was one of the most vital export items of the Mughal period, with Bayana (Agra) producing the finest quality.
Tobacco: Although Akbar saw tobacco, it was not cultivated or popularized until the early 17th century (Jahangir's reign).
Jagirdari Crisis: In the late 17th century, the shortage of good Jagirs (lands) relative to the number of Mansabdars led to over-extraction from peasants, fueling revolts.