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Major problem no. 2
The problem was that all the companies were interested in buying the same things as the fine qualities of cotton and silk produced in India had a big market in Europe. The only way the trading companies could flourish was by eliminating their rival competitors. The urge to secure markets therefore led to battles between the trading companies. Through 17th and 18th centuries regularly sank each other's ships, blockaded routes, and prevented rival ships removing with supplies of goods. -
East India company comes East
In 1600, the East India company acquired a Charter from the queen of England, Queen Elizabeth 1, granting the sole right to trade with the East. With this charter, the EIC could venture across the oceans, looking for New lands from which it could buy goods at a cheaper price and carry them back to Europe to sell at Higher prices -
Mercantile Trading
Mercantile Trade: A business enterprise that makes profit primarily through trade buying goods cheap and selling the them at higher prices. Mercantile Trading companies in those days made primarily profit by excluding competition, so that they could buy cheap and sell dear. -
Major problem no. 1
The royal charter however could not prevent the other European powers from entering the eastern markets. By the time the first English ships Sailed down the West coast of Africa round the cape of good hope, and cross the Indian Ocean the Portuguese had already established their presence in the Western coast of India and had the base in Goa. By the early 17 century the Dutch too were exploring the possibilities of trade in the Indian Ocean. Soon the French traders arrived on the scene. -
East India company begins trade in Bengal : part 1
The first English factory was set up on the banks of river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from which the company's traders known at the time as 'factors' operated. The factory had a ware House with goods for export was stored, it had offices where company official sat. As trade expanded the company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. -
The British think beyond or EIC begin trade in Bengal : part 2
By 1696 it began building a fort around the settlement. 2 years later it bribed the Mughal officials into giving the company zamindari rights over three villages. One of these was kalikata which later grew into the city of Calcutta or Kolkata as it is known today. It also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a Farman for granting the company the right to trade duty free. -
East India company begins trade in Bengal : Part 3
The company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate is existing privileges. Aurangzeb Faman for instance has granted only the company the right to trade duty free but officials of the company who were carrying on private trade on the side were expected to pay duty, they refuse to pay causing enormous loss of revenue for Bengal. Therefore, Murshid Quli Khan protested. -
East India Company begins trade in Bengal: PART 2
Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He established control over a very large part of the territory that is now known as India. After his death in 1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and big zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing regional kingdoms. As powerful regional kingdoms emerged in various parts of India, Delhi could no longer function as an effective centre. -
East India Company begins trade in Bengal: PART 3
The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges. Aurangzeb’s farman, for instance, had granted only the Company the right to trade duty free. But officials of the Company, who were carrying on private trade on the side, were expected to pay duty. This they refused to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal. -
How trade led to battles : the first bit
Through the early 18 century the conflict between the company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified. After the death of Aurangzeb the Bengal nawabs asserted their power and autonomy. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler. They refused to grant the Company concessions,demanded large tributes for the company's right to trade,denied it any right to mint coins and stopped it from extending its fortifications. -
Protest
The company too protested for their rights of equal trade. The conflicts led to confrontatioms and finally culminated in the famous battle of Plassey or Palashi. -
Battle of Plassey: A turning point in Indian History?
The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first
major victory the Company won in India. Not only that, it was the beginning of corruption and the beginning of colonial rule in India. -
Battle of Plassey : PART 1
Through the early eighteenth century the conflict between the Company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Bengal nawabs asserted their power and autonomy, as other regional powers were doing at that time. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler. -
Battle of Plassey : PART 2
They refused to grant the Company concessions, demanded large tributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it any right to mint coins, and stopped it from extending its fortifications. Accusing the Company of deceit, they claimed that the Company was depriving the Bengal government of huge amounts of revenue and undermining the authority of the nawab. It was refusing to pay taxes, writing disrespectful letters, and trying to humiliate the nawab and his officials. -
Battle of Plassey : PART 3
The Company on its part declared that the unjust demands of the local officials were ruining the trade of the Company, and trade could flourish only if the duties were removed. It was also convinced that to expand trade it had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages, and rebuild its forts. The conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated in the famous Battle of Plassey. -
Battle of Buxar
it was a conflict at Buxar in northeastern India between the forces of the British East India Company, and the combined army of an alliance of Indian states including Bengal, Awadh, and the Mughal Empire. This decisive battle confirmed British power over Bengal and Bihar after their initial success at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and marked the end of the attempt to rule Bengal through a puppet nawab. -
Battle of Buxar: PART 2
The British victory at Buxar resulted in a large area of the Indian subcontinent coming under British control. -
company rule expands: PART 1
After the Battle of Buxar, the Company appointed Resident Officers in Indian states. They were political or commercial agents, and their job was to serve and further the interests of the Company. -
company rule expands: PART 2
Soon, the Company began forcing the Indian states into joining a subsidiary alliance (a partnership between a ruling country and a country that is being ruled). According to the terms of this agreement, Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces, but were to be protected by the Company. -
company rule expands: PART 3
The local rulers also had to pay for the subsidiary forces that the Company promised to maintain for the purpose of their "protection".
And if the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away. The kingdoms of Awadh and Hyderabad, for example, were forced to cede territories on this ground -
Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”
When the company saw a threat to its political or economic interests, it resorted to direct military confrontation, as happened in Mysore and many other kingdoms.
Mysore had become powerful under rulers like Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, and it controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast where the Company purchased pepper and cardamom. -
Tipu Sultan – And his last breaths
Tipu Sultan, in 1785, stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper, and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom, and disallowed local merchants from trading with the Company. This angered the company very much.
The Company lost four wars to Mysore, but in the last one, the Battle of Seringapatam, the company won and Tipu Sultan was killed. -
Wars with the MARATHAS
Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis were two famous Maratha soldiers and statesmen of the late 18th century, and when the First Anglo-Maratha War ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second Anglo-Maratha War, from 1803 to 1805, was fought on different fronts, and resulted in the British gaining Orissa and territories north of the Yamuna river, including Agra and Delhi. The Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817 to 1819 finally crushed Maratha power. -
The Claim to Paramountcy: PART 1
From the start of the 19th century, the Company pursued an aggressive policy of territorial expansion. Under Lord Hastings, Governor General from 1813 to 1823, a new policy of “paramountcy” was initiated, which simply meant that the authority and position of the Company was supreme (the highest and the greatest) in India, and it had the right to take away anything it wants to from any Indian ruler. -
The Claim to Paramountcy: PART 2
Sind was taken over in 1843, and Punjab next. The presence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh there held back the Company, but after his death in 1839, two prolonged wars were fought and Punjab was annexed in 1849. -
The Doctrine of Lapse
Lord Dalhousie devised a policy that come to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse, a policy that declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir (official child), his kingdom would become the part of Company's territory.
Satara in 1848, Sambalpur in 1850, Udaipur in 1852, Nagpur in 1853, and Jhansi in 1854 were annexed under this doctrine.
In 1856, the Company also took over Awadh, and the people of Awadh joined the great revolt that broke out in 1857. -
The Company's Army
In the early 1800s, the British began to develop a uniform military culture for its forces in India. The Company's soldiers, many of whom were Indians, were increasingly subjected to European-style training, drill, and discipline that regulated and changed their lives far more than before. -
CONCLUSION
By the end of the 19th century, the British East India Company in India was transformed from a trading company to a territorial colonial power and ruler. -
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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