Trade and Commercial Networks of British Indian Trading Houses during the Treaty Port Trade in Yokohama (1859 -1899)

Abstract

The paper argues that British ‘Indian’ Trading Houses in Yokohama established a unique ‘niche’ trade during the Treaty Port Trade or Kyoryuchi trade during the late nineteenth century, different from ‘British’ Trading Houses that dealt with the export of primary products and import of manufactured goods. Until 1880s British ‘Indian’ Trading Houses traded in the import of medicinal herbs and export of curios to and from Hong Kong and India, but soon entered the export of newly manufactured light industrial goods such as matches and silk textiles to India, which helped them to capture a sizable share of the Japan-India Trade in subsequent decades. Being small in organizational size and capital investment, British ‘Indian’ Trading Houses took advantage of their commercial networks, spread across major trading ports of Asia, with their main offices in Bombay and Hyderabad, to compete successfully with Anglo-American, Chinese and Japanese Trading Houses. The British ‘Indian’ Trading Houses in Yokohama, comprising of Muslim, Parsi and Sindhi traders, initially came to Japan in the 1870s as part of the East India Company conglomerate, but after mid-1880s, they opened branches in Yokohama to expand their businesses in Far East Asia. This led other Indian traders, especially Sindhis, to establish small businesses in Yokohama, during the Treaty Port Trade. The tightly-knit commercial networks of British ‘Indian’ Trading Houses prevented non-Indian traders from dealing directly with their foreign branches thus aiding in their success.