The growing relevance for `maritime history', in terms of understanding the material wealth of India, has been able to generate a huge corpus of scholarly works detailing the foreign trade potential India had nurtured through the ages. Precisely, the transition period, from medieval to modern times, in the annals of Indian history has some uniqueness by heralding a competitive scenario among the European trading companies. The commercial organization of Eastern Coast with specific reference to Orissa during the 17^th and 18^th centuries has been rightly captured in the present paper. Besides providing the factual information relating to English East India Company's operations in the coastal Orissa during the period of study, it offers wide scope for evaluating the commercial interaction between native tradesmen and Britishers. This would also lead to a proper understanding of the evolution of commercial centers in Orissa.

Asurvey of the maritime trade of India during the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th centuries must consider the elements of continuity and change both in these centuries and those, which preceded them. In the late medieval period, the trade and commerce of India was characterized by a more detailed picture because of its commercial relationship with the Roman World. These included its seasonal pattern, dependent on the winds of the monsoon and the commodities exported or imported to the Indian subcontinent.

This paper analyzes the commercial organization of Orissa with special reference to the role of merchants not to say the commercial activities of the English East India Company. The appearance of the European Companies gave rise to a new situation in the commercial life of Orissa during the period under study. The employees of the English East India Company and other European trading Companies had to enlist the cooperation of the native traders for carrying out their business activities. This was because; the European servants of various Companies had very little knowledge of the area of their operation and the dialect of the locality. Hence, contact with the local producers and craftsmen was possible only through the agency of the native merchants, who were conversant with local language and had the knowledge about the price and quality of goods.

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