The Company Weavers of Bengal: The East India Company and the Organization of Textile Production in Bengal 1750-1813

by Hameeda Hossain

The collapse of the weaving industry in eighteenth-century Bengal has been the subject of considerable controversy. Drawing on newly discovered eighteenth-century Bengali manuscripts that contain the East India Company's correspondence, account books, and deeds of agreement with weavers, Hossain here suggests that the decline of the weaving industry was largely a result of the Company's attempt to enforce lower wages and maintain strict control over the weavers.

178 pages, Hardcover

First published March 29, 1990