The Indian Express ·
Silk, Coral and Fiat: Italy’s long economic ties with India
Italy never ruled India, but Italian traders found ways to participate in, and profit from, the colonial economy. From silk and coral to Fiat, Italian enterprise navigated British control, relied on Indian commercial networks, and adapted to the changing politics of access.
In February 1896, Primo Lanzoni, a professor at Venice’s Higher School of Commerce, set out for India with Gualtiero Fries, a representative of the company that operated Italy’s Adriatic railway network. They had been given a practical assignment: to study Indian imports and exports, identify goods Italy could sell, find firms worth dealing with, and determine how traffic between Europe and India might be channelled through Venice and the Suez route rather than rival ports.
Less than a month after their journey began, an Italian army was defeated by the forces of Emperor Menelik II at Adwa in Ethiopia, East Africa. The two seemingly unrelated episodes unfolded almost simultaneously. While Italy was attempting to expand its territorial empire in Africa, Italian commercial planners were travelling through British India in search of markets and trading connections. One sought territory; the other, commercial access.