Abstract
The economic
factor can be regarded as the decision of social development in a human society
and with that development of the economic situation; various structures of a
society similarly are described. Several scholars have analyzed through their
various researches that commercial activities and development of commerce are
major facts which a society will organize systematically in the world. The
economic factor which was a reason for the origin and development of socio-
political organization of ancient Sri Lanka can be studied under two major
divisions. Those are an economy based on agricultural activities and economy
based on trading activities. R. A. L. H. Gunawardhana has suggested that
periods of prolific activity in building of irrigation works in Sri Lanka
coincided with the most flourishing periods of trade. The explanation for this
is that commercial gain provided the resources for hydraulic engineering. He
points out that there was only one new major irrigation project undertaken
between the seventh and the ninth centuries, in sharp contrast to the intense
irrigation activity in the period immediately proceeding. H. J. Benda has
clearly shown from his primary studies that economy based on agriculture and
commerce has affected the changes of society and political organization.
Therefore, from this research, the growth of commercial activities will be
discussed based on those views and how the commercial activities affected the
society. Commerce is a factor which is based on buying of items, transaction,
selling and consumption. A commercial market is a place where meeting of
merchants and consumers takes place. The research will be mainly based on primary
sources and wherever necessary material will also be obtained from limited
secondary sources published on the political system of the island.
Keywords:
internal trade, International trade, Social change, Commercial commodities,
Trading groups, Muslim Merchant community.
No comments:
Post a Comment