From its geographic location at the centre of the Indian Ocean, South India has played a critical role in global trade since ancient times. Merchants from wider Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean travelled to South India in search of specialty goods, especially brightly coloured checked cottons, making the region a cosmopolitan centre of global trade.

When the first European 'East India' trading companies arrived in the early 1600s they discovered the South Indian textile trade was highly competitive, and that tremendous expertise was required to correctly assess the many different kinds and qualities of checked cottons available.