_ 133 _ by side, though the Indian merchants kept their wonted distance. The customhouse of Ormuz had control over the produce of the satellite ports on the shores of the Persian Gulf. These included silk and pearls from Quis, food from Bahrain and, above all, horses from Sohar and Khor Fakkan, which merchants from India exchanged for cargoes of rice, cotton fabrics and spices. The luxury products did not suffice to balance this trade, the demand for Indian products being so strong that Ormuz had to import silver larins to supplement its exports. India's geographical position made it a crossroads, a sort of turn-table for the trade of the Orient, as well as being producer of rice, spices and textiles, and a vast reservoir of manpower for all the ports of the Indian Ocean. In the course of the 15th century there had been a reorganization of sea-going activity, whilst a new political equilibrium was established in the Indian peninsula following the Turkish-Afghan invasions which had spread everywhere in the first half of the 14th century. Rajahs had been dethroned and, in their place military commanders had put Muslim governors who were not slow to free themselves from the control of rulers in distant Delhi. Hence, the growth of the sultanates of Gujarat and Bengal, among others. To the north of the Deccan, Muslim
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