Explain: "The port of Surat declined by the end of the 18th century."

1.	Explain: "The port of Surat declined by the end of the 18th century."
Answer» The European company gradually gained power - first securing a variety of consessions from local courts, then the monopoly rights to trade. This resulted in the decline of old ports of Surat.Exports from these ports fell dramatically, the credit that had financed the earlier trade began drying up, and the local bankers slowly went bankrupt. In the last years of the 17th century, the gross value of trade that passed through surat had been Rs 16 million. By the 1740s it had slumpled to Rs 3 million. Due to these reasons, the port of Surat declined by the end of the 18th century.

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