The Spanish Trade Network

The Philippines became a key link in Spain's overseas trading empire. The Spanish shipped silver mined in Mexico and Peru across the Pacific to the Philippines. From there, they used the silver to buy goods in China. In this way, large quantities of American silver flowed into the economies of East Asian nations.

In this Mughal illustration painted on fine cotton, a servant is at work, standing on a richly decorated carpet. Indian carpets and other textiles were highly prized trade goods.

Europeans Trade in Mughal India

For two centuries, the Mughal empire had enjoyed a period of peace, strength, and prosperity. European merchants were dazzled by India's splendid Mughal court and its many luxury goods.

A Thriving Trade Center

Mughal India was the center of the valuable spice trade. It was also the world leader in textile manufacturing, exporting large quantities of silk and cotton cloth. The Mughal empire was larger, richer, and more powerful than any kingdom in Europe. When Europeans sought trading rights, Mughal emperors saw no threat in granting them. The Portuguese—and later the Dutch, English, and French—thus were permitted to build forts and warehouses in Indian coastal towns.

Turmoil and Decline

Over time, the Mughal empire weakened. Later rulers ended an earlier policy of religious toleration, rekindling conflicts between Hindu and Muslim princes. Civil war drained Mughal resources. Rulers then increased taxes, sparking peasant rebellions. Several weak rulers held the throne in the early 1700s. Corruption became widespread, and the central government slowly faded.

British-French Rivalry in India

As Mughal power faltered, French and English traders fought for power. Like the Dutch, entrepreneurs in England and France had set up the English and French East India companies. These companies made alliances with local officials and independent rajahs, or princely rulers. Each company organized its own army of sepoys, or Indian troops.

In 1712, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan gave this reception for Jan Joshua Ketelaer, an envoy from the Dutch East India Company.

By the mid-1700s, the British and the French had become locked in a bitter struggle for global power. The fighting involved both nations' lands in Asia and the Americas. In India, the British East India Company used an army of British troops and sepoys to drive out the French.

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