Amit's Blog

Cholas to Europe: The Divergent Paths of Maritime Power A Comparative Study of Shipbuilding, Trade, and Financial Innovation   The Chola dynasty (9th–13th centuries CE) was a maritime powerhouse, dominating Indian Ocean trade and conquest with sophisticated ships and ports like Nagapattinam. Their navy enabled campaigns like the 1025 CE Srivijaya raid, but they failed to develop shipbuilding as an industry due to ad hoc organization, trade-focused priorities, and artisanal methods. The Indian Ocean’s two-way trade reduced competitive pressure, unlike Europe’s consumer-driven markets, where high spice profits fueled rivalry. Financial revolutions in Amsterdam and London funded Dutch and British fleets, outmatching Iberian powers. Indian Ocean powers, constrained by land-based priorities and European incursions, didn’t build on the Chola legacy. Europe’s gunpowder, scientific advances, and institutions drove maritime dominance, leaving the Cholas’ regional model behind. ...

The Unseen Ocean: India's Profound Misunderstanding of Maritime Power and the Rise of European Dominance   When Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut in 1498, he inaugurated an era that fundamentally altered the Indian subcontinent’s destiny. For over four centuries, European powers—beginning with the Portuguese and culminating with the British—established impregnable coastal strongholds, from Goa to Bombay, enduring until India’s liberation of Goa, Daman, and Diu in 1961. This prolonged European presence raises a critical question: Why did the mighty land-based Indian empires, particularly the Mughals, who ruled for over three centuries, fail to challenge these maritime interlopers, allowing them to entrench an insurmountable foothold? The answer lies in a profound and persistent failure to comprehend the strategic importance of maritime power. Across the entire span of the Mughal Empire and beyond, Indian rulers exhibited a near-total disregard for naval strategy, viewing the sea a...