Giovanni Careri
Also called: Gemelli Careri · Topic: Medieval India through Travellers' Eyes · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"
Meaning
Giovanni Careri, also called Gemelli Careri, was an Italian traveller who passed through India around 1690. He is remembered for describing how silver from many parts of the world ended up in Mughal India. India sold more goods, mainly textiles, than it bought, so foreign traders had to pay in gold and silver. His account helps historians show that Mughal India was rich and closely tied to world trade. It is not proof of a poor economy that was standing still.
Example
Careri traced how silver mined in the Americas passed through Europe and West Asia. In the end it "finally centred" in Hindustan (Mughal India), paying for Indian manufactured goods. The French doctor Bernier made a similar point, writing that the world's gold and silver was "swallowed up" in Hindustan.
Don't confuse with
- Manucci: also an Italian, but a doctor who settled in India and never went home. Careri only passed through.
- Tavernier: a French jeweller who visited India at least six times and was interested in trading conditions. He was not Italian.