Cotton muslins and silk taffaties
The British were latecomers. By the time they actively started trading in Bengal around 1660, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Danes were already there, busy procuring goods that were then sold in international markets for profit.
Important to note here that the Europeans had little to offer (except money) that was of use to the natives. The East India Company tried to sell “English clothes and manufactures” but found that “demand for them is inconsiderable” [i]. On the other hand, it discovered that Bengal has much to offer- saltpetre of the “best quality”[ii], raw-silk, taffaties (wrought silk), and cotton muslins. This imbalance in trade- not enough exports to India to offset imports from India- would contribute later to the transformation of the firm from a merchant entity to a colonial power.
Job Charnock, an agent of the Company, chose Calcutta (then comprising of the villages- Sutanati, Kalikata, and Gobindapur) as the place for a permanent trading post. The villages produced very little of the commodities that the Company procured; majority of the purchases were made at Balasore, Dhaka and Cossimbazar.
Charnock chose Calcutta for security reasons. In the west it was secured by the Hughli River and in the east lay the salt water lakes. It made the task of protecting the goods and capital in the factory at Fort William a relatively easy affair.
