1 The regional studies which support this more balanced interpretation of the Mughal political system are numerous. I would like to mention however: Alam, M., Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India (Delhi 1986);Google ScholarBayly, C.A., Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion (Cambridge 1983);Google ScholarBarnett, R.B., North India between Empire: Awadh, the Mughals and the British, 1720–1801 (Berkeley 1980);Google ScholarFisher, M.H., A Clash of Cultures: Awadh, the British and the Mughals (New Delhi 1987);Google ScholarWink, A., Land and Sovereignty in India: Agrarian Society and Politics under Eighteenth-Century Maratha Svarajya (Cambridge 1986). For the meaning and implications of the ‘inner frontier’:Google ScholarHeesterman, J.C., The Inner Conflict of Tradition (Chicago 1985) 158–180. The most important Indian Ocean studies are:Google ScholarChaudhuri, K.N., Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean (Cambridge 1985);CrossRefGoogle ScholarGupta, A. Das and Pearson, M.N. eds., India and the Indian Ocean 1500–1800 (Delhi 1987);Google ScholarChandra, S. ed., The Indian Ocean: Explorations in History, Commerce and Politics (New Delhi 1987);Google ScholarWink, A., Al Hind, The Making of the Indo-lslamic world I. Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam, 7th-11th Centuries (Leiden 1990)Google Scholar.

2 Steensgaard, N., The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (Chicago 1974);Google ScholarGregorian, V., The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan (Stanford 1969) 24;Google ScholarJackson, P. and Lockhart, L. eds., The Cambridge History of Iran VI. Timurid and Safavid Periods (Cambridge 1986) 475;Google ScholarHodgson, M.G.S., The Venture of Islam III. The Gunpowder Empires and Modem Times (Chicago 1974) 155–156.Google ScholarSteensgaard himself recently withdrew the most radical implications of his theory in , Chandra ed., The Indian Ocean, 125–150Google Scholar.

3 L. Lockhart, Nadir Shah (London 1938); Singh, G., Ahmad Khan Abdali (London 1959)Google Scholar.

4 See for Bagdhad: Nieuwenhuis, T., Politics and Society in Early Modern India, Mamluk Pashas, Tribal Shayks and Local Rule between 1802 and 1831 (The Hague 1982); for Aleppo:Google ScholarMaster, G., The Origins of Western Economic Dominance in the Middle East: Mercantilism and the Islamic Economy in Aleppo, 1600–1750 (New York 1988); for Mosul:Google ScholarOlson, R.W., the Siege of Mosul and Ottoman-Persian Relations 1718–1743 (Bloomington 1975); for Damascus:Google ScholarBarbir, K.K., Ottoman Rule in Damascus 1708–1758 (Princeton 1980)Google Scholar.

5 For slave trade in the sixteenth century see: Kolff, D.H.A., ‘Naukar’, Rajut and Sepoy, The Ethnography of the Military Labour Market in Hindustan, 1450–1850 (Cambridge 1990) 10–15. For some earlier instances see: A. Wink, Al-Hind, 61, 91Google Scholar.

6 Burnes, A., Cabool: Being a Personal Narrative of a journey to, and Residence in that City in years 1836,7 and 8 (London 1840) 21;Google ScholarKaushik, D., India and Central Asia in Modem Times: A Study in Historical-Cultural Contacts from the Early Nineteenth Century (New Delhi 1985) 68Google Scholar.

7 This refers to the Turkish military superiority during the Delhi Sultanate, see: Digby, S., War-Horse and Elephant in the Delhi Sultanate (Karachi 1971) 12;Google ScholarLauriston, J. Law de, Mémoires sur quelques affaires de l'empire Mogol, 1756–1761 (Paris 1913) 191–195Google Scholar.

8 Elphinstone, M., An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul I (Oxford 1972) 386–388.Google Scholar

9 Allah, Mir Izzat,‘Travels beyond the Himalaya’, The Quarterly Oriental Magazine (1825) 289.Google Scholar

10 Elphinstone, Account of Caubul I, 388.

11 Chandra, S., The 18th Century in India: Its Economy and the Role of the Marathas, the jals, the Sikhs and the Afghans (Calcutta 1986) 80.Google Scholar

12 The first clear references to Afghans are from the tenth century by Al-Macsudi and the author of the Hudud al-Alam. More frequently in the eleventh and twelfth century by Al-cUtbi, al-Biruni, Gardizi and juzjani.

13 Hafiz Rahmat Khan, Khulasat al-Ansab, BM. Ms. Egerton, f. 13a.

14 Ferdinand, K., ‘Nomad Expansion and Commerce in Central Afghanistan. A Sketch of some Modern Trends’, Folk 4 (1962) 157–158.Google Scholar

15 Forrest, G.W. ed., Selections from the Travels and Journals preserved in the Bombay Secretariat (Bombay 1906) 148.Google Scholar

16 , Burnes, cabool, 78; E. Balfour, The Encyclopaedia of India and Eastern and Southern Asia (Graz 1967) 274–275; Vigne, Personal Narrative, 70.Google Scholar

17 Raverty, E.g. H.G., Notes on Afghanistan and Part of Baluchistan (London 1888) 659–660; Burnes, Cabool, 56, 84;Google ScholarBurnes, A., Travels into Bokhara III (London 1839) 315–365;Google ScholarSauveboeuf, L.F. Ferrières de, Mémoires Historiques, Politiques et Géographiques des Voyages (Paris 1790) 11–12; Elphinstone, Account of Caubul I, 232, 383; Forrest, Selections from the Travels, 107;Google ScholarFraser, J.B., Narrative of Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822 (London 1825) 87 (Bokhara);Google ScholarHanway, J., An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian sea II (London 1753) 27Google Scholar; Kinneir, J.M., A Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire (London 1813) 113–114,181–182, 214;Google ScholarMasson, C., Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and the Punjab I (London 1842) 353ff; II, 107;Google ScholarLal, Mohan, Journal of a Tour through the Panjab, Afghanistan, Turkistan, Khorasan and Part of Persia (Calcutta 1834) 102ff;Google ScholarPottinger, H., Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde (London 1816) 8–78, 202–229, 281–421; Vigne, Personal Narrative, 425–441;Google ScholarElton, J., Tagebuch über seine Reise von Moskou nach den nordlichen Gegenden von Persien (Hamburg 1790) 42Google Scholar.

18 See for Armenian trade: Hanway, Historical Account I, 37; II, 27–31; Kinneir, Geographical Memoir, 160–163; Fraser, J., Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea (London 1826) 358;Google ScholarKellenbenz, K., ‘Der Russische Transithandel mit dem Orient in 17. und zu Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts’, Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Osteuropas 12 (1964–1965);Google ScholarKurkdjian, A.A., ‘La Politique Economique de la Russie en Orient et la Commerce Armennien au Debut du XVlIIe Siecle’, Revue des Etudes Armeniennes 11 (1875–1876)Google Scholar.

19 Ricks, T., ‘Politics and Trade in Southern Iran, 1745–65’ (Ph.D. thesis; Univ. of Indiana 1975) 334;Google Scholarcf. Sauveboeuf, Ferrières de, Mémoires Historiques II, 82;Google ScholarOlivier, G.A., Voyage dans L'Empire Othoman, L'Egypt et la Perse III (Paris 1807) 174–181Google Scholar.

20 Masters, 24–32.

21 Hayit, B., Turkestan zwischen Rusland und China (Amsterdam 1971) 39–60.Google Scholar

22 Modave, Comte de, Voyage en Inde du Comte de Modave, 1773–1776. Deloche, J. ed. (Paris 1971) 405.Google Scholar

23 See for the Kalmuk empire: Courant, M., L'Asie Centrale au XVIle et XVIIIe Siècles: Empire Kalmouk ou Empire Mantchou (Lyon and Paris 1912);Google ScholarBawden, C.R., The Modem History of Mongolia (London 1989) especially 50–51, 67–68Google Scholar.

24 Naquin, S. and Rawski, E.S., Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century (New Haven and London 1987) 194–195;Google Scholarcf. Markham, C., Narrative of the Mission of G. Bogle to Tibet, and the Journey of j. Manning to Lhasa, with Notes and Lives (London 1879) 124–130;Google ScholarTurner, S., An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet; Containing a Narrative of a Journey through Bootan and Part of Tibet (London 1800) 372–377Google Scholar.

25 Desideri, J., An Account of Tibet: The Travels of Ippolito Desideri of Pistoria, s.j., 1712–1727. Filippi, F. de ed. and tr. (London 1932) 157, 164–168.Google Scholar

26 Wathem, M., ‘Memoir of the U'sbeck State of Kokan’, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 32 (1834) 376.Google Scholar

27 Fletcher, J., ‘Les ‘Voies’ (turuq) Soufies en Chine’ in: Popovic, A. and Veinstein, G. eds., Les Ordres Mystiques de I'Islam: Cheminement et Situation Actuelle (Paris 1986) 14, 21.Google Scholar

28 Wessels, C., Early Jetuit Travellers in Central Asia (The Hague 1924) 25.Google Scholar

29 For the relative position of Afghanistan and Persia: Hanway, Historical Account II, 27; Elphinstone, Account of Caubul I, 232; Elton, Tagebuch, 42.

30 Pallas, P.S., Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire in the Years 1793 and 1794 I (London 1802) 288.Google Scholar

31 Hambly, G., ‘An Introduction to the Economic Organisation of Early Qajar Iran’, Iran, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 2 (1964) 77.Google Scholar

32 al-Hukama, Rustam, Persische Geschichten 1694–1835 Erlebt, Erinnert und Erfunden. Das Rustam at-Tawarih in Deutscher Bearbeitung. Hoffman, I. B. ed. and tr. (Berlin 1986) 254; see alsoGoogle ScholarLockhart, L., The Fall of the Safavi Dynasty and the Afghan Occupation of Persia (Cambridge 1958) 85Google Scholar.

33 Pottinger, Travels in Baloochistan, 204, 224.

34 Durrani, A.M.K., Multan and the Afghans (Multan 1981); many Multani merchants resided in as well, see:Google ScholarForster, G., A Journey from Bengal to England through the Northern Part of India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia by the Caspian Sea II (London 1798) 134–135Google Scholar.

35 Lambton, A.K.S., ‘The Tribal Resurgence of the Decline of the Bureaucracy in the Eighteenth Century’ in: Naff, T. and Owen, R. eds., Studies in Eighteenth Century Islamic History (Carbondale 1977) 108–129.Google Scholar

36 Comte de Modave, Voyage en Inde, 336; al-Karim, Abd ‘Bukhari, Nadim’ b. Ismali, Histoire de I'Asie. Centrale par Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary. Schefer, C. ed. and tr. (Paris 1876) 17Google Scholar.

37 Savory, R.M., ‘The History of the Persian Gulf A.D. 600–1800’ in: Cottrell, A.J. ed., The Persian Gulf States (Baltimore and London 1980) 35. For Masqat slave trade in Baluchistan and Qandahar:Google ScholarLumsden, H.B., The Mission to Qandahar (Calcutta 1860) 108 (some slaves were brought by pilgrims from Masqat);Google ScholarMasson, C., Narrative of a Journey to Kalat (London 1843) 50; Pottinger, Travels in Baloochistan, 63Google Scholar.

38 Elphinstone, Account of Caubul I, 279–280.

39 Very informative recent studies on the Persian Gulf and Oman are: al-Qasimi, M., The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf (London 1986); andGoogle ScholarRisso, P., Oman and Musk al, An Early Modern History (London and Sydney 1986)Google Scholar.

40 Pottinger, Travels in Baloochistan, 281; Masson, Journey in Balochistan, 353.

41 Alam, Travels in Baloochistan, 184.

42 Eighteenth-century Afghan-Jewish communities are found in Las Bela, Peshawar, Herat, Qandahar and Chardzhou. Jewish communities already existed in Bukhara, Kashghar and Iran.

43 Masson, Journey in Balochistan I, 353–356.

44 Vigne, Personal Narrative, 434–435.

45 Michell, 457–458. Thompson reported that after Nadir's expeditions Persian and Indian coins were current in Bukhara, Hanway, Historical Account I, 345. In the early nineteenth century the situation was reversed and cash was imported from Russia and was subsequently carried to Afghanistan and India, Mir Izzat Allah, ‘Travels beyond the Himalaya’, 138; Fraser, Narrative of a Journey, appendix, 95.

46 See for Hunza, Müller-Stellrecht, J., Hunza und China (1761–1891) (Wiesbaden 1978) 4; for Badakhshan:Google ScholarGrevemeyer, J.H., Herrschaft, Raub und Gegenseitigkeit: Die Politische schichte Badahhshans 1500–1883 (Wiesbaden 1982) 102–105; for the booming slave trade in Afghanistan (Herat, Kabul, Balkh): Harlan, 38, 344–45, 82–84, 127Google Scholar.

47 Three valuable recent studies on this transhumance in the Himalayas are: Chandola, K., Across the Himalayas through the Ages: A Study of Relations between Central Himalayas and Western Tibet (Delhi 1987)Google Scholar; Fisher, J.F., Trans-Himalayan Traders, Economy, Society and in Northern Nepal (Berkeley 1986);Google ScholarJosh, M.P. and Brown, C.W., ‘Some Dynamics of Indo -Tibetan Trade through Uttarakhanda (Kumaon-Garhwal) India’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 30 (1987)Google Scholar.

48 For an early nineteenth-century account stating its flourishing condition: Raper, F.V., ‘Narrative of a Survey for the Purpose of Discovering the Sources of the Ganges’, Asiatic Researches 11 (1912) 536–540Google Scholar.

49 Atkinson, E.T., Notes on the History of the Hymalaya of the N.W.P. India (Allahabad 1884) 71–72.Google Scholar

50 See for organisation of these merchant colonies under Chinese rule: Michelle, 149–161; Forsyth, T.D., Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873, with Historical and Geographical Information regarding the Possessions of the Ameer of Yarkund (Calcutta 1875) 95–97Google Scholar.

51 A. Gerard, Account of Kunnawar (London 1841) 184–185; Raper, ‘Narrative of a Survey’, 530.

52 See for Tibetan gold in the eighteenth century: Boulnois, L., Poudre d'Or et Monnaies d'Argent au Tibet (Paris 1983)Google Scholar.

53 Raper, ‘Narrative of a Survey’, 497–498; Rhodes, N.G., ‘The Silver Coinage of Garhwal and Ladakh’ 1686–1871, Numismatic Chronicle 141 (1981) 124–135Google Scholar. According to Moorcroft there was formerly (probably in the second half of the eighteenth century) a much frequented trade route from Najibabad to Khotan and Yarkand via Gartok and Rudok, Moorcroft, W. and Trebeck, G., Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab, in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz and Bokhara I (London 1841) 373–374Google Scholar. For a discussion of the available material see Boulnois, Poudre d'Or.

54 Alam, Travels in Baloochistan, 262.

55 Forster, Journey from Bengal, 190–191; Wendel, , Les Memoires de Wendel sur lesjat, les Pathan et les Sikh.Deloche, J. ed. (Paris 1979) 131Google Scholar.

56 Devra, G.S.L., ‘A Study of the Trade-Relations between Rajasthan and Sindh/Multan (1650–1800 A.D.)’, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (1978) 585, 587.Google Scholar Cf. Gupta, B.L., ‘The Migration of Traders to Rajasthan in the Eighteenth Century’, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (1988) 316;Google ScholarNaqvi, H.K., Mughal Hindustan: Cities and Industries (1556–1803) (Karachi 1974) 246;Google ScholarDeloche, J., La Circulation en Inde avant la Revolution des Transports I (Paris 1980) 58Google Scholar.

57 Leonard, K., ‘The “Great Firm” Theory of the Decline of the Mughal Empire’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 21 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58 See for the radius of action of some longdistance traders: Lal, Mohan, Journal of a Tour, 122 (from Kabul: Mulla Rahim Shah); Fraser, Narrative, 114,118ff (from Mashhad: Husayn Marwi)Google Scholar.

59 Adapted from the debate on European imperialism and introduced by Gallagher, J. and Robinson, R., ‘0The Imperialism of Free Trade’, Economic History Review Second Series 6, 1 (1953) 1–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

60 This short study cannot go into the important subject of the ‘triangular nexus between state, producing economy and external commerce’, and just points out some geographical shifts. For a profound discussion see: Subrahmanyam, S., The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India, 1500–1650 (Cambridge 1990)Google Scholar.

61 Fazl, Abu'l, Akbarnama. Beveridge, H. ed. and tr. (Calcutta 1897 and 1939) 326–353, 398–401,615–619.Google Scholar

62 Makhzan-i Afghani. B. Dorn ed. and tr. (2 vols.; London 1965); for a full discussion of the Indo-Afghan chronicles see the introduction to: Sarwani, Abbas Khan, Tarikh-i Sher Shahi. Ambashthiya, B.P. ed. and tr. (Patna 1974)Google Scholar.

63 Durrani, Ahmad Shah, Nama-yi Ahmad Shah Baba ba Nam-i Sultan Mustafa Salas Usmani. Jalali, G.Jilani ed. (Kabul 1967) 14–15.Google Scholar

64 Cf. Sarkar, J., Fall of the Mughal Empire I (London 1988) 99–100; Elphinstone writes that the Durrani court exactly reflected the model of Nadir Shah's; Elphinstone, Account of Caubul II, 252, 281.Google Scholar

65 Ahmad Shah Durrani, 8–10.

66 Ibidem, 9. Sultanat more in the abstract and general sense of ‘government’ or ‘authority’.

67 Ibidem, 12–13.

68 Ibidem, 14–16.

69 Ibidem, 30.

70 Ibidem, 76–77; in 1757 Ahmad Shah had already re-established Alamgir II (1754–1760) on the Mughal throne and in 1761 he repeated this with the absentee son of the latter, Shah Alam II (1760–1806). In 1758 Ahmad Shah enforced his claims of suzerainty by the expression of the khutba and the sikka.

71 See for the Persian part of the Durrani claim: Mann, O., ‘Quellenstudien zur Geschichte des Ahmad Sah Durrani’, Zeitschrift der Deutsche Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 52 (1989) 118, 161–168, 323–358.Google ScholarCf. , Lambton, ‘The Tribal Resurgence’ and Perry, J.R., ‘The Last Safavids 1722–1773’, Iran. Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 9 (1971) 59–69Google Scholar.

72 Eighteenth-century autonomous Afghan chiefdoms can be found in: Ruhilkhand, Farrukhabad, Bhopal, Junagadh, Tonk, Kasur, Maler Kotla, Mandu, Kurnool, Nellore, Ginji, Cuddapah, Jhajjar.

73 Law d e Lauriston, 189–190.

74 Hafiz Rahmat Khan, f.51 b. f.52 b.

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