Italians in India, 1860-1920 : trades, traders, trading networks

Defence date: 10/12/2008Examining Board: Prof. Diogo Ramada Curto (EUI); Prof. Claudio Zanier (University of Pisa); Prof. Anthony Molho (EUI); Prof. Costas Lapavitsas (SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies)PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD thesesThis work deals with the economic and commercial activities of Italian traders in British India from the 1860s to the 1920s. When confronted with the problem of selecting which type of traders I had to include in my study I choose to work on silk and coral traders. A general study on all the Italian traders active in India would have required much more time, and more archival research, both beyond the possibilities of a doctoral student. The rational behind this choice is explained in detail in chapter 2. Silk and coral traders have been taken as representative of the Italian way of doing business, or at least of the Italian ways of doing business in India between the 19th and 20th centuries