"We thought it was time to make peace with the merchant community, which is an important constituency."

Of particular concern was the Muslim merchant community in Cochin.

He also reformed the administration, aligning himself with the merchant community, and changing the taxation system.

Overall, the administration relied on the powerful merchant community for both financial and diplomatic support.

It was being given to the merchant community of Bristol, apparently, but no one was quite sure what that would mean.

"There's a merchant community over by the east wall," Althalus replied.

As usual, the larger part was played by the merchant community rather than the government.

What there is, is a strong tie to the merchant community.

So too did the Chinese and the Parsi merchant communities.

Its garden was sold to the merchant community.