Strange Riches was originally the introductory draft of the work that emerges from the thesis I presented at the E.H.E.S.S., Paris, in the summer of 1985. The introduction formed a composite whole by itself; and it developed further as my interest in Bengal's early commercial history grew.

The time span from the tenth century to the eighteenth century has been highlighted in this look. This covers both of what are termed conventionally the ‘ancient’ and the ‘early medieval’ in Bengal's history and the book thus talks of Bengal's mercantile history for three hundred years before the Turko Afghans came to Bengal and continues through the Ilyas Shahi, Abyssinian, Husain Shahi, Afghan, Mughal and Nawabi periods in Bengal's history. However, this volume does not take the thirteenth century (the coming of Islam etcetera) as the starting point for a discussion of Bengal's mercantile history in medieval times as has been the conventional practice. The arguments presented here range from as early as the fourth century of the Christian Era; and the conclusion presents data as recently as 2003.

The area covered in the book is the whole of ‘Bengal’ during these periods; however the east and the north east of the region have been emphasised, for reasons that will become clear as the reader progresses through the book. If you consider the geographic space from Dhaka and deltaic Sunderbans in the centre and the south (most now in present day Bangladesh), Comilla in the centre, Tripura, Kamrup and Assam in the north east and Chattagram and Arakan in the south east you get a good idea of a real emphasis of Strange Riches.