Weavers, Iron Smelters & Deindustrialisation

• How India was a major exporter of textiles before colonial rule.
• How British rule destroyed Indian weaving and iron-smelting industries.
• Weavers — who they were, where they worked, how their trade collapsed.
• Iron smelters — traditional iron-making and how it was undercut.
• Industrialisation in Britain and its impact on Indian industry.

India's textile glory before colonialism

• India was the world's leading textile exporter for centuries — muslin, calico, chintz, silk.
• Dhaka muslin: so fine it was called "woven air" (Wootz, Daccai); exported to Europe, Middle East.
• Calicut (Kerala) → "calico" cloth named after it.
• Surat, Masulipatnam, Hooghly: major textile export ports.
• Weavers organised in caste-based guilds; supplied cloth to merchants who exported it.
• European companies (East India Company) initially came to buy Indian textiles.

The collapse of Indian weaving

Phase 1 — Trade control (1750s–1800s)

• East India Company became political ruler after Battle of Plassey (1757).
• Company used political power to force weavers to sell only to them at low fixed prices.
• Dadni merchants (middlemen) replaced — weavers now worked directly under Company-appointed gomastas (supervisors).
• Weavers lost freedom to sell in open market; advances given meant they were always in debt.

Phase 2 — Machine competition (1820s–1860s)

• Industrial Revolution in Britain (1780s onwards) → Manchester mills produced cheap machine-made cloth.
• British Parliament passed laws removing import duties on British cloth entering India.
• Meanwhile, Indian cloth exported to Britain faced high tariffs (duties up to 70–80%).
• Result: Indian cloth could not compete in Britain; British cloth flooded India at low prices.

Phase 3 — Collapse

• Demand for fine Indian textiles collapsed — mass market now bought cheap British cloth.
• Weavers retrained or turned to agriculture; many became agricultural labourers.
• Dhaka's population fell from 150,000 (1800) to 30,000 (1840) as muslin trade died.

Indian iron and steel

Traditional iron-smelting

• India had centuries-old tradition of iron and steel making.
• Wootz steel (produced in south India) was famous across the world — superior to European iron.
• Iron smelters (called lohars) worked in small furnaces using local ore and charcoal.

Colonial impact

• British Forest Acts restricted access to wood/charcoal → fuel for furnaces became unavailable or expensive.
• Cheap British iron imports (produced by coke-fired blast furnaces) undercut Indian iron prices.
• Iron smelters lost their market → gave up craft.

Revival — Tata Iron and Steel

• Jamsetji Tata founded Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) at Jamshedpur, 1907.
• Used modern blast furnace technology; employed Indian workers.
• During WWI, British-Indian government depended on TISCO for rails and steel.
• TISCO showed that Indians could industrialise — important symbol of national pride.

Cotton mills in India

• Not all Indian industry collapsed — some entrepreneurs built modern mills.
• Bombay (Mumbai): first cotton mill, 1854; by 1900s, dozens of mills producing yarn and cloth.
• Mill owners: Parsi businessmen (Dinshaw Petit, Jamsetji Tata), Marwari merchants.
• Mills competed with British imports on coarse cloth — couldn't yet match machine-fineness.
• Swadeshi Movement (1905): nationalists called for boycott of British cloth, use Indian-made; boosted mill demand.

Impact on artisans

Why didn't Indian industries revive quickly?

• Capital: Indian merchants had capital but invested in trade, not factories.
• Technology: machine technology was British; patents and know-how not shared.
• Colonial policy: import duties protected British goods; no protection for Indian industry until after WWI.
• Labour: cheap labour available but skilled machine operators scarce.

• What was Dhaka muslin? Why did its production collapse?
• How did British trade policies discriminate against Indian textiles?
• What was Wootz steel? How was it affected by British rule?
• Who founded TISCO? Why was it significant?
• What was the Swadeshi Movement and how did it help Indian mills?

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