Traders from all over the East Indies met at the ‘great market’ in the large city of Bantam, on the island of Java (now part of Indonesia). The wide variety of traders who brought their goods here included Arab, Turkish, Indian, Indonesian, Chinese and European traders. The market sold a wide range of goods. There were melons and coconuts, sugar and honey, beans, bamboo, swords and knives, men’s clothes, women’s clothes, spices and drugs, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, pepper, onions and garlic, rice, jewellery and birds.
Traders from the British trading company, the East India Company, traded in the region. They would come to markets such as this one offering British goods in exchange for these ones. They offered such things as woollen cloth and ‘fancy’ goods like sword blades, mirrors, coral and ivory, and iron, lead and tin bars. There was limited demand for wool and fancy goods in the East Indies , so much of their purchasing was done with silver instead.
