Caravans tells the fascinating story of countless Punjabi Khatri merchants who built great business empires through their ingenuity and spirit of adventure. Operating during the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, these merchants risked everything and traveled across Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran and Russia. They used sophisticated techniques to convert a modest amount of merchandise into vast portfolios for trade and money lending ventures. Caravans challenges the belief that the rising tide of European trade in the Indian Ocean usurped the overland Silk Road trade, and demonstrates how thousands of Punjabis created a booming market in Central Asia at precisely this historical moment.

Contents:
Introduction
Merchants and the State
Multanis and Shikarpuris
Indian Merchants in Central Asia
Indian Textiles
The Slave Trade
Horses
The Life and Death of a Diaspora
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography