<論文>ムガル朝港市スーラトの船主商人 --1685年マラバール海岸への通航をめぐるオランダ東インド会社との係争を中心に--

Abstract

At the end of October 1685, three influential ship-owning merchants --Abdul Ghafur, Muhammad Chalebi, and Mirza Muhammad Arif-- and the agent of Prince Shah Alam Bahadur required the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, hereafter “the VOC”) at Surat to issue passes that allowed them to sail for ports to the south of Cannanore in the Malabar Coast. The VOC rejected their demand once, because it tried to discourage Surat merchants from going to the ports in Malabar, to monopolize the trade of pepper and cinnamon from Malabar to Surat and cotton goods and opium from Surat to there, after it conquered the fort of Cochin in 1663. Nevertheless, the ship-owning merchants successfully persuaded the VOC to give them the passes in the end. During the negotiations with the VOC, they used several tactics to win a concession on the matter of the passes from it. These tactics clearly reflected their business strategies. They introduced the recognition of the English East India Company as both the VOC's and their rival, which would challenge the Dutch monopolistic policy in Malabar and take away from them the demand for freight in Surat. They also suggested that the VOC distinguish them from the rest of the ship-owners in Surat and issue the passes only to them, so that the VOC could minimize the ill-effects on its monopolistic policy in Malabar, while these ship-owning merchants could maximize their profit from the trade. Consequently, they succeeded in building some common interests with the VOC. In addition, these merchants implied that they had close connections with the Surat authorities and the Mughal court and that there was a possibility that the VOC could fall into trouble with the Mughal authorities if it refused their demands. This threat had a significant effect on the VOC because it feared that such trouble would have a harmful influence on its trade in India. All these strategies in the negotiation finally resulted in these ship-owning merchants obtaining the passes from the VOC.