History · Administration and Economy
UGC NET June 2013 History
Which historian called the Indian merchants engaged in overseas trade as 'pedlars'?
AN. Steensgaard
BOm Prakash
CVan Leur ✓ Correct
DAshin Das Gupta
Correct answer: (C) Van Leur — The Dutch historian Van Leur called them pedlars, so the answer is Van Leur.
Explanation
★The Dutch historian Van Leur called them pedlars, so the answer is Van Leur.
★J.C. Van Leur was an Indonesian-born scholar of Asian trade history.
★He argued that much of the Asian overseas trade was a peddling trade in small quantities.
★In his view the Indian merchants were like pedlars rather than large organised firms.
★Later historians such as Ashin Das Gupta questioned and refined this view.
★The debate is central to the study of pre-colonial Indian Ocean commerce.
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