India was famous for spices which were in high demand in European cuisine. The three prominent trade routes till the 15th century were through central Asia, through red sea and then Egypt and Europe via Mediterranean sea and Persian gulf by sea and then through Iraq and turkey and again by sea through Venice and Genoa. The Turkish lands were captured by Ottomans and the trade routes were affected. The renaissance had led to the quest for discovery of newer routes through sea to India. Finally Vasco da Gama found an all sea route to India via Cape of Good Hope.
The opening of trade routes to India and America were hailed as very important. The American islands were rich in precious minerals and soon they became consumers of European manufactured goods. The Atlantic became a zone of high trade activity. The Portuguese to were the first to enter into Africa and they became the pioneers of slave trade. The slaves were bought for manufactured European goods and sold in West Indies and American lands for sugar and cotton which were exchanged for manufactured goods in Europe. This triangular trade was dominated by Portuguese along with the eastern trade with India.
Though
the Portuguese were ruthless and religious intolerant
they lost their monopoly in later part of 16th century
to the English, Dutch and French. The English due
to their naval power and industrial revolution became the
superpower of the world and had colonies in Africa,
America and East Asia. The English though initially weak
were by the end of the 16th century dominant in
naval powers.
The English East Indian Company was formed and given a charter to trade in the east by Queen Elizabeth. The English Company was led by Captain Hawkins and received by Emperor Jahangir. Though initially they were well received by due to Portuguese influence they were expelled. The British realized that Portuguese influence had to be reduced in order to convince the Mughals. In the naval battle the Portuguese were defeated and so the Mughal emperor thought that in order to counter the supremacy of Portuguese in sea, friendship with the English is important.
A
Mughal Farman gave them permission to open factories on
the west coast. Thomas roe wasn’t satisfied with
this and bargained for more concessions. The British also
started harassing hajj pilgrims and Indian merchants
taking advantage of its naval power. Finally the Mughals
relented and gave them permission to open factories
throughout the Mughal territory.
The
Portuguese were angered by this and in the naval battles
the English won. Hostilities were ended by giving the
island of Bombay to British for marrying a
Portuguese princess in 1662. Soon the Portuguese lost all
their Indian possession to English, Marathas and Dutch
except Daman Diu and Goa.
The conflict between Dutch and English too was intense but resulted in a stale mate. The English couldn’t remove the Dutch from their stronghold in Indonesia and the spice trade. But Dutch too couldn’t match the English might in India. Finally English decided to leave the Indonesian trade and focus on India only. And similarly the Dutch too left the Indian trade except for a few factories in the east coast. These too were lost to the English by 1795.
After
Surat the English power grew in India. When the tried to
fortify their factory in Surat
they were arrested by the local authorities
working for the Mughals. Similarly when the Company’s
rivals attacked the Mughal shipping the Mughal forces
arrested the Company officials till the ransom was paid.
The south India was more favorable to them as no strong
government existed there. The first factory in the south
was opened in Masullipatinam and then in madras.
The raja gave them permission to fortify the madras
factory and the Englishman Francis day built there
fort George.
After
madras the island of Bombay came under British occupation.
It too was fortified as the Surat area was under threat
from the increasing Maratha power. The English now moved
their sights on the east coast and opened factories in
Orissa and Hugli. They wanted an independent fortified
factory for Bengal. They had now become ambitious and
wanted to capture India and turn it into a British colony.
For this they challenged the mighty Aurangzeb but
his force was great and the British lost all factories on
the east coast and even their fort in Bombay was besieged.
They gave up hope and resorted to flattery and forgiveness
and asked for return to trade.
Aurangzeb permitted this as he felt that foreign traders couldn’t harm him. But the revenue they brought from trade increased the state treasury. Also the British naval might was great enough to ruin Indian trade with west. The British now fortified the few villages on the east coast in Bengal and it became Calcutta. Job carnock built the fort William there. But due to strong Nawabs in Bengal the east India Company was merely a zamindar.
The British had high hopes in south India as no strong kingdom existed there but it had to face competition from the French. The French east India Company was government controlled but had caught up with the English company in terms of trade and had factories in Bengal and Pondicherry. The Anglo French conflicts in the south and east lasted for a period of 20 years and ended with English supremacy. The French now lived under English protection in India. They were permitted to keep Pondicherry with condition that no fortification be allowed.
The English were now the mightiest power in India. The war had taught them a few lessons. In absence of modern nationalism in India they could be setup against each other easily. The western trained Indian soldiers were as good as Europeans. The absence of nationalism and respect of salt in the Indian mind made him a good and loyal soldier. Thus the British went on to rule India with an army officer-ed by British but with Indian Sepoy's.
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