HistoryMedieval India: Through the Eyes of Travellers

A Mughal town grows quickly when the emperor and his court arrive and…

A Mughal town grows quickly when the emperor and his court arrive and declines soon after they leave; it has no economic base. Which term did Bernier use for such towns?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → Camp towns

Option (1) Port-towns — Incorrect. Port-towns grew around sea trade. Their life rested on merchants and ships at the coast.

Option (2) Pilgrimage towns — Incorrect. Pilgrimage towns grew around sacred places and their visitors. Historians list them to show that Mughal towns had many bases, against Bernier's view.

Option (3) Camp towns — Correct. Bernier called them camp towns, towns that owed their existence to the imperial camp. He thought they grew when the court came and declined when it left, as they lived on imperial patronage.

Option (4) Manufacturing towns — Incorrect. Manufacturing towns lived on the goods their craftspeople made. They show the prosperity of merchants and professional groups.

NCERT (2026-27): “6.2 A more complex social reality …
In fact, during the seventeenth century about 15 per cent of the population lived in towns. This was, on average, higher than the proportion of urban population in Western Europe in the same period. In spite of this Bernier described Mughal cities as “camp towns”, by which he meant towns that owed their existence, and depended for their survival, on the imperial camp. He believed that these came into existence when the imperial court moved in and rapidly declined when it moved out. He suggested that they did not have viable social and economic foundations but were dependent on imperial patronage.”