“Cities had a key role to play in the economic system of empires.” Discuss.

Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are some of the coastal cities of India which are of prime importance. These are the places from where finished goods and commodities are exported and manufactured goods are imported at a cheap rate.

When the British ruled India, some colonial cities were the prime source or link between the economic centre in Britain and the border in the colonised India. Therefore, cities are a tangible expression of global capitalism. For example – when Mumbai was under the rule of British, by 1900 they planned and re-developed so that they could three-quarters of India’s raw material were shipped to other places; likewise, Calcutta exported Jute to Dundee and Madras sent coffee, sugar, indigo dyes and cotton to Britain. Thus, it is clear that “Cities had a key role to play in the economic system of empires.”