The Coming Of The Europeans Online Test 11th History Lesson 11 Questions in English

The beginning of British rule in India is conventionally ascribed to 1757, after the Battle of Plassey was won by the English East India Company against the Nawab of Bengal.

The Europeans had arrived in India by the beginning of the sixteenth century. Their original intention was to procure pepper, cinnamon, cloves and other spices for the European markets and participate in the trade of the Indian Ocean.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish themselves in India. Vasco da Gama discovered the direct sea route to India from Europe around the Cape of Good Hope at the end of the fifteenth century.

The Portuguese conquered Goa on the west coast in 1510. Goa then became the political headquarters for the Portuguese in India and further east in Malacca and Java.

The Portuguese perfected a pattern of controlling the Indian Ocean trade through a combination of political aggressiveness and naval superiority. Their forts at Daman and Diu enabled them to control the shipping in the Arabian Sea, using their well-armed ships.

1600-1650: The Mughal Empire, this was the period when the Mughal Empire was at the peak of its power. The Europeans were quite aware of the wealth and power of the Mughals, and English poets even wrote about the fabulous “wealth of India”. Travellers from all parts of Europe visited India regularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The journals of their travels present a detailed contemporary account of the empire and society in India.

By 1600 Akbar had achieved his imperial dream and extended the frontiers of the Mughal Empire through his conquests in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Gujarat was conquered in 1573, and this gave the Mughal empire valuable access to the port of Surat, which was the gateway to west Asia and Europe.

The importance of Surat to the Mughals can be appreciated from the fact that Surat had two governors, one the governor of the city, and the other, the governor of the castle which had been built on the river Tapti to protect the city. The governor of the city was in charge of civilian affairs and collecting the revenues from customs duties.

Akbar had also tried to extend his empire in the east beyond Bihar by conquering Bengal. But Bengal was not really integrated into the empire until nearly three decades later, when it became one of the provinces (subah) under Jahangir.

The English acquired the islands of Bombay in 1668, and set up their headquarters in Bombay in 1687. Their primary objective was to develop Bombay as an alternate base for their operations.

After the defeat of Vijayanagar in 1565 in the Battle of Talikota by the combined forces of the rulers of Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golkonda, the central authority of the once dominant kingdom became very weak.

Golkonda invaded the Coromandel in 1646 and annexed the area between Pulicat and San Thome, which also changed the political scenario in the region.

The Dutch had successfully negotiated to acquire Pulicat (Palaverkadu) from the Nayak of Senji and constructed a fort there.

Emperor Aurangzeb began an ambitious program of extending his empire south to the Deccan, and the kingdoms of Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golkonda were conquered in the 1680s. This extended the Mughal control of the Deccan as far south as Chennai.

The English got a piece of land further south from the local chief, Damarla Venkatadri Nayak on which they built Fort St. George in 1639.Thus an English settlement came up which eventually grew into Chennai (Madras),the capital of the Madras Presidency.

The Marathas, under Shivaji, began to grow in power and military strength. They attacked Surat with impunity in 1664, though it was soon abandoned. But their second raid in 1670 devastated Surat and its trade took several years to recover. This seriously challenged the claim of Mughal invincibility and it sounded the beginning of the gradual disintegration of the Mughal Empire.

Thanjavur survived as a Maratha ruled state. The Maratha kings, with their inclusive policy of assimilating Tamil intellectual and cultural traditions, made Thanjavur the cultural capital of the Tamil region.

Aurangzeb, the last of the “great Mughals”, died in 1707. One of the major developments following his death was the establishment of what have been called ‘successor states’. Mughal viceroys in various parts of the country Oudh, Bengal, Hyderabad and the Carnatic set themselves up as independent rulers.

The name Carnatic originally referred to the region occupied by the Kannada speaking people. In the eighteenth century it included the region lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats, in the modern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and southern Andhra Pradesh. The Nawab of Arcot controlled this region.

On the west coast, food grains from Gujarat were exported to the Malabar region in return for pepper, cinnamon and ginger. Food grains were also shipped to the Dutch establishments in Sri Lanka and Batavia.

Weaving was the second most important economic activity in the country, supported by subsidiary activities like spinning and dyeing.

The Coromandel region was famous for its painted (Kalamkari) fabrics which had designs drawn on the cloth and then dyed. By the sixteenth century these had become staple products for consumers in south-east Asia, especially the Indonesian islands.

Commercial institutions were also well developed to promote such extensive trade. Because a variety of coins were in circulation, there were money-changers or Shroffs to test coins for their purity and decide their value in current terms. They also served as local bankers. Instead of transferring money as cash from one place to another, merchants issued bills of exchange, known as Hundis which would be cashed by Shroffs at different destinations at a specified rate of discount.

This well-developed infrastructure and organization of trade enabled the rich merchants to amass large fortunes. Such merchant princes or capitalists were found in all parts of India – the Banias and Parsi merchants of Surat, the Nagarseths of Ahmedabad, the Jagat Seths of Bengal and the merchant communities of the Coromandel.

From Malacca ships sailed to the west coast of India, to Calicut or Cambay or Surat in Gujarat. Such intermediate ports were known as “Entrepots”. Goods from Europe and West Asia were exchanged in these ports for goods from the east, as well as locally produced pepper, spices, dyes, clothes and food grains.

The ports of the Coromandel Coast, like Masulipatnam, Pulicat and other ports further south served as intermediate ports for the ships from Burma and the Malay Peninsula.

The primary interest of the Europeans was in securing spices for Europe directly. In the olden days, the spices were carried to the Persian Gulf ports and then overland to the Mediterranean. They soon learned that a simple bilateral exchange was not workable in the Asian markets. This was mainly because there was no demand in the local economies for the products of Europe, other than gold or silver.

Gama’s success made Portugal to send 1200 men with 13 vessels under Pedro Alvarez Cabral. On 29 October 1502 Gama visited Calicut for the second time with a fleet of 20 vessels. Gama moved from Calicut to Cochin as its harbor was better.

Vasco da Game before he returned to Portugal he established a factory [warehouse] in Cochin and a prison at Kannur.

The Portuguese stopped yearly expeditions and instead decided to appoint a Viceroy. The first Viceroy was Francisco d’ Almeida who followed what is known as ‘Blue Water Policy,’ and accordingly, he added more ships to strengthen the navy rather than adding more settlements.

Albuquerque (1509-1515), the successor of Almeida, was the real founder of the Portuguese empire in India. He defeated Yusuf Adil Khan, the ruler of Bijapur in 1510 and captured Goa.

He developed Goa into a center of commerce by making all the ships sail on that route. He encouraged people of all faiths to settle in Goa. He was in favor of Europeans marrying Indian women and settling down in Portuguese controlled territories. His conquest of Malacca (in Malaysia) held by the Muslims, who commanded the trade route between India-China and Mecca and Cairo, extended the empire.

Albuquerque attempted to stop the practice of Sati. He attacked the Arabs and was successful in taking Aden. In 1515 he took control of Ormuz.

Two more viceroys played a significant role in consolidating the Portuguese empire in India. They are Nino da Cunha and Antonio de Noronha. Da Cunha occupied Bassein and Diu in 1534 and 1537 respectively. The port of Daman was wrested from the hands of Imad-ul Mulk in 1559.

During the period of De Noronha (1571) the Mughal ruler Akbar visited Cambay in Gujarat and the first contacts between the Portuguese and the Mughal emperor established.

In 1580 Philip II, King of Spain, defeated Portugal and annexed it. In India the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in Ceylon and later seized the Portuguese fort on Malabar Coast.

The Europeans adopted new methods in the warfare. Gun powder and superior artillery played a significant role in the success of their battles.

The presence of Portuguese is very much evident in Chennai’s San Thome. Mylapore was the Portuguese ‘Black Town’. Black Town of the British period was George Town.

Fr.Roberto de Nobili, whose linguistic ability enabled him to write extensively in Tamil and Sanskrit. He is considered the father of Tamil prose. Fr.Henriques introduced printing in Tamil and is called the father of printing press.

Clashes occurred between the Portuguese and the Muslim groups on the pearl fishery coast in the 1530s over the control of fishing and pearl diving rights and a delegation of Paravas complained to the Portuguese authorities at Cochin about the atrocities inflicted on them by Arab fleets and sought protection.

In 1580 Philip II, King of Spain, defeated Portugal and annexed it. In India the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in Ceylon and later seized the Portuguese fort on Malabar Coast. Thereafter rather than protecting their settlements in India, Portuguese began to evince greater interest in Brazil.

It was during the period of De Noronha (1571) the Mughal ruler Akbar visited Cambay in Gujarat and the first contacts between the Portuguese and the Mughal emperor established.

St. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Goa in 1542 and travelled as far as Thoothukudi and Punnakayal to baptize the converts. Xavier established a network of Jesuit mission centers. His visit is evident from the shrines dedicated to St. Xavier and the towering churches that came up in the fishing villages on the Coromandel Coast.

The first Dutch expedition to the South East Asia was in 1595 by a trader Jan Huyghen van Linschoten a merchant from Netherlands who lived in Lisbon. There were several companies floated by the traders and individuals to trade with the East. The state intervened and amalgamated them all and created a Dutch East India company in 1602.

In Pulicat, located 60 kilometers north of Chennai, the Dutch built the Castle Geldria. The remains of this 400 year old fort can be seen even now. This fort was once the seat of Dutch power. The Dutch established control of Masulipatnam in 1605 and they established their settlement at Pulicat in 1610. The other Dutch colonial forts and possessions include Nagapattinam, Punnakayal, Porto Novo, Cuddalore (Tiruppathiripuliyur) and Devanampatinam.

Pulicat served as the Coromandel headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. Diamonds were exported from Pulicat to the western countries. Nutmeg, cloves, and mace too were sent from here to Europe. A gun powder factory was also set up by the Dutch to augment their military power.

One less known fact about the Dutch is they were involved in slave trade. People from Bengal and from settlements such as Tengapattinam and Karaikal were brought to Pulicat. The Dutch employed brokers at Madras for catching and shipping slaves. Famines, droughts and war that resulted in food shortage led to the flourishing of the slave trade.

The French attempted to establish a trade link with India as early as 1527. Taking a cue from the Portuguese and the Dutch, the French commenced their commercial operations through the French East India Company, established in 1664.

The French commercial enterprise was a project of King Louis XIV. His minister of finance, Colbert, was instrumental in establishing the French East India Company. As the French effort was a government initiative, it did not attract the general public of France who viewed it as yet another way to tax people.

Berber, a French agent in India obtained a fir man [a royal command or authorization] on September 4, 1666 from Aurangzeb and the first French factory was established at Surat in December 1668.

The French were able to remove the Dutch from San Thome in Mylapore in 1672. The French sought the support of Sher Khan Lodi the local Governor represented the Sultan of Bijapur against the Dutch.

The Dutch befriended the King of Golkonda who was a traditional foe of Bijapur. It was Sher Khan Lodi who offered Pondicherry (Puducherry) as a suitable site for the French settlement.

Francis Martin who became the Governor of Pondicherry later had spent four years in Madagascar before arriving Surat. He made Pondicherry the strategic center of French settlements in India.

In 1697, according to the treaty of Ryswick, Pondicherry was once again restored to the French. However, it was handed over to the French only in 1699.Francis Martin remained as its governor till his death in 1706.

The French secured Mahe in 1725 and Karaikal in 1739. The French were also successful in establishing and extending their settlements in Qasim Bazaar, Chandranagore and Balasore in the Bengal region. Pierre Benoit Dumas (1668–1745) was another able French governor in Pondicherry.

Denmark and Norway (together till 1813) possessed colonial settlements in India and Tamil Nadu. Tarangambadi or Tranquebar in Tamil Nadu, Serampore in West Bengal and Nicobar Islands were their possessions in India.

On March 17, 1616 the King of Denmark, Christian IV issued a charter and created a Danish East India Company. This Company did not get any positive response from the Danish traders. Admiral Ove Gjedde led the first expedition to Ceylon in 1618. The Danes could not get any trade contract in Ceylon.

Robert Crappe ably negotiated with the Thanjavur King and struck an agreement. According to the agreement signed on 20 November 1620, the Danes received the village of Tarangambadi or Tranquebar and the right to construct a Fort there.

A second Danish East India Company was started in 1696. Trade between Denmark and Tarangambadi resumed and many new trade outposts were also established. The Nayak king of Thanjavur gifted three more villages surrounding Tarangambadi. Two Danish Missionaries, the first protestant missionaries, arrived on 9 June 1706. The Danish settled in Andaman and Nicobar in 1755, but due to the threat of malaria they abandoned it in 1848.

During the Napoleonic wars the British caused heavy damage to the Danes possessions. Serampore was sold to the British in 1839 and Tranquebar and other settlements in 1845.

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg along with Heinrich Pluetshau arrived in Tranquebar in September 1706, as the first Lutheran missionaries in India. They began preaching, and baptized their first converts within ten months of their stay. Their work was opposed both by Hindus and by the local Danish authorities, and in 1707-08 Ziegenbalg had to spend four months in prison on a charge that by converting the natives he was encouraging rebellion.

Ziegenbalg set up a printing press, and published studies of the Tamil language and of Indian religion and culture. His translation of the New Testament into Tamil in 1715 was first in any Indian language. When he died on 23 February 1719, he left behind a full Tamil translation of the complete Bible and of Genesis to Ruth (Bible Story book series) many brief writings in Tamil.

In 1611, King James I obtained from Mughal Emperor Jahangir through William Hawkins, permission for regular trade. The English obtained some trading privileges in Surat.

In 1615–19, Sir Thomas Roe was sent as an Ambassador of the English King James I. The Viceroy of Gujarat, Prince Kurram granted trading privileges, but the British could not operate freely because the Portuguese exercised a powerful influence in the region.

Madras was ceded to East India Company in 1639 by the Raja of Chandragiri with permission to build a fortified factory which was named Fort St. George. This was the first landholding recorded by the Company on Indian soil.

In 1645, the ruler of Golkonda overran the territories under the Company’s control in Madras. Aurangzeb conquered Golkonda in 1687 and brought the Company territories under Mughal rule.

The Charter of 1683 empowered the Company to raise military forces and the right to declare war or make peace with the powers in America, Africa and Asia.

Local officials interfered with the trading rights of the British and this resulted in the Company declaring war with the ruler representing the Mughals. Peace was restored in 1690 and the Company established its first settlement at Sultanuti, a site which became the future Calcutta.

The factory was fortified in 1696 and in 1698 the Company secured the zamindari rights over three villages, Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindpur in return for a payment of 1200 rupees a year. The fortified factory was called Fort St. William which became the headquarters of the Presidency in 1770.

Sir William Norris, sent by the English King William III in 1698, met Aurangzeb to get full English jurisdiction over the English settlements. But this request was conceded only during 1714-17, when a mission under Surman sent to the Mughal Emperor Farukhsiyar obtained firman (grant of trading rights) addressed to the local rulers of Gujarat, Hyderabad and Bengal.

The British had to fight three wars (1746-1763) with the French to establish their supremacy, which in history are called the Carnatic wars.

First Carnatic War 1746-48 was the result of the Austrian War of Succession and Seven Years War fought in Europe had their repercussions in India.

When the Austrian war broke out, the new Governor of Pondicherry, Dupleix appealed to Morse, the Governor of Madras, to remain neutral. But a British squadron under Commodore Barnett captured some of the French vessels with Indian goods and precipitated the situation. Dupleix shocked by this incident, appealed to Anwar- ud-din, the Nawab of Carnatic, to help him to avoid war with the English. Calm prevailed for some time.

In 1748, France and the English had signed the Treaty of Aix La Chappelle. Under this treaty the British and the French ceased their hostilities in India. It was agreed that the French would hand over Madras to the British in return for Louisburg in North America.

The Second Carnatic War: 1749-54 Dupleix supported the claims of Muzaffar Jung, the grandson of Asaf Jah died in 1748 in Hyderabad, as the Nizam of Hyderabad. In the Carnatic he supported the claim of Chanda Sahib. A triple alliance was formed amongst the French, Nizam and the Nawab of Carnatic.

The Battle of Ambur (1749) Muzaffar Jung the contender for Nizami of Hyderabad, and Chanda Sahib, a claimant to the Nawabi of Carnatic, with the help of the disciplined French infantry inflicted huge casualties on the Nizam and Anwar-ud-din’s forces. Anwar-ud-din was killed. Chanda Sahib entered Arcot as the Nawab.

Clive was promoted as the governor of Fort St David and was involved in the Carnatic Wars and the siege of Trichinopoly. He won the Battle of Plassey in Bengal from where the British Empire came to evolve in India. Clive returned to India to take up his governorship and secured the Diwani rights from the defeated Mughal emperor in 1765.

The Amboyna Massacre – twenty servants of British East India Company, Portuguese and Japanese were tortured and killed by the agents of Dutch East India Company at Ambon Island in Indonesia in the year 1623.

In the battle of Arni the English and the Maratha ruler Murari Rao faced an unequal number of French and the forces of Nawab of Arcot. In several battles that followed, including one at Kaveripakkam, Chanda Sahib was captured and executed. Muhammad Ali became the undisputed ruler of Carnatic.

The Treaty of Pondicherry was signed in 1755 with the English; both countries agreed not to interfere in the quarrels of the Indian princes. The Treaty also defined their mutual territorial possessions in India, a situation that was maintained for nearly two centuries until Indian independence.

The Third Carnatic War: 1756-1763 it was an echo of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) which broke out in Europe in 1756.The war was fought in North America (resulting in the American War of Independence) and West Africa (which later became the French West Africa).

Battle of Plassey (1757) The East India Company abused the trade permits (dastaks) granted by the Mughal Emperor by not paying taxes to the Nawab of Bengal, and by involving itself in internal trade. The battle of Plassey (1757) changed the position of the British from being a commercial power to that of a territorial power.

Battle of Buxar (1764), after fleeing from Bengal Mir Qasim aligned with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the Nawab of Oudh, Shuja-ud-daulah, who were equally aggrieved by the interference of the Company in their internal affairs. They declared war against the British. The battle was fought at Buxar (1764).

The victory of the British in Buxar led to the signing of the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) by Robert Clive with Shah Alam II. By this treaty the Company got the Diwani right to collect land revenue from the princely states of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Besides the Company obtained three districts Burdwan, Chittagong and Midnapur in Bengal and sovereignty over Calcutta. British virtually became the rulers of Bengal.

Outbreak of Third Carnatic War, the French government sent Count de Lally as the Supreme Commander of the French forces in India. As the British were active in Bengal, Lally promptly secured Fort St. David after a short siege.

In Deccan the political situation changed quickly and the French lost both Rajahmundry (1758) and Masulipatam (1759). Salabat Jung, the Nizam of Hyderabad, without fighting a battle signed an agreement with the British. The Nizam transferred Masulipatnam and Northern Circars from the French to the English.

A fresh detachment of British forces arrived under the command of Sir Eyre Coote, The last ditch battle was fought between Eyre Coote and Lally at Wandawashi (Wandiwash) in January 1760. Bussy was defeated and taken prisoner.

The hostilities came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) at the end of the Seven Years War. Pondicherry and Chandranagore were restored to the French. The French had to henceforth be content with Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanaon (Yanam), Mahe (Kannur district in Kerala), and Chandranagore (Chandannagar in Bengal).

Anandarangam (1709-1761), was born to a leading merchant of the time named Tiruvengadam Pillai. Dupleix appointed him the Chief Dubhashi (one who knows two languages) and Chief Commercial Agent (1746).

The real fame rests on Anandarangam voluminous Diary in Tamil which is a very valuable source of history for the period from 1736 to 1760, particularly for the Governorship of Dupleix. It is also a good summary of Anandarangam views and impressions on contemporary events.