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Royal Charter
In 1600 Queen Elizabesth The First issued a Royal Charter giving sole and complete rights to the East India Company to conduct trade from Easten countries like India. -
East India Company Arriving India
The first English factory was setup on the l Banks of the river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from which the company's traders operated. -
Fortification And Expansion
By 1696 the Company began building a fort around the settlement. 2 years later it's bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over 3 villages one of which was The City Of Kalkata. -
How trade Led to battles
Through the early eighteenth century the conflict between the company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified. After the death of Aurangzeb the Bengal nawabs arrested their power. Murshid Quili Khan followed by Aliwardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah were all strong rulers.
They refused to Grant the Company concetions, denied it the right to mint coins and stopped it from extending fortification. -
The Beginning Of The Battle Of Plassey
When Aliwardi Khan died in 1756, Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal. The Company were keen on a puppet ruler but Sirajuddaulah wasn't one. After The Company trying to make one of Sirajuddaulah's rivals the nawab, Sirajuddaulah asked the company to stop Meddling in the political affairs of his dominion, stop fortification and pay the revenues. After negotiations failed, the nawab invaded the English factory in kassimbazar and then established control over The company's fort in Calcutta. -
The Battle Of Plassey
On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Robert Clive declared war against the nawab in Plassey. One of the main reasons of Sirajuddaulah's defeat was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of Sirajuddaulah's commanders, never fought the Battle. Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing
Sirajuddaulah. After the Battle, Sirajuddaulah was assassinated and Mir Jafar made the nawab. Then The Company realised that puppet rulers weren't always helpful -
After The Battle 1
When Mir Jafar protested, the Company deposed him and installed Mir Qasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained he was removed through war and Mir Jafar was reinstalled. The Company began to become greedy and wanted more money to finance its wars, and meet other demands. It wanted more territories and revenue. -
After The Battle 2
Finally after Mir Jafar died in 1765 the Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. The Diwani allowed allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources of Bengal. This solved the Company's major problem. From the early 18th century it trade with India expanded but they also had to give gold and silver in return of the trade which was imported from Britain After the Battle this slowed down and entirely stopped after the assumption of Diwani expenses. -
Company Officials Become 'Nabobs'
After the Battle of Plassey the actual nawabs of Bengal were forced to give land and vast sums of money as personal gifts to Company Officials. Robert Clive and outlet Company Officials began to have visions of living like nawabs. Such officers were called "nabobs" - an anglicised version if the Indian word nawab. They were often seen as upstarts and social climbers in British society and were ridiculed or made fun of in plays or cartoons. -
Tipu Sultan the TIGER OF MYSORE
Tipu Sultan was a very powerful ruler of Mysore and in 1785 he had stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom, and disallowed local merchants from trading with the Company. This made the British furious and fought four battles against Tipu Sultan and finally won in the last Battle of Seringapatam. -
War With The Marathas
The Company wanted to crush Maratha power. The Marathas' dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered after their defeat in the third Battle of Panipat. Then they were divided into different states under chiefs belonging to dynasties. Then The Maratha went silent. In the first war there was no clear Victor. In the second British gained Orissa and territories like Agra and Delhi. In the third war Maratha was crushed and the Peshwa was removed. British gained the territories South of the Vindhyas. -
The claim to paramountcy
Under lord Hastings a new policy of paramountcy was initiated. Now the Company claimed that it's athority was supreme and it's power greater than that if Indian states. They were now justified in annexing any Indian kingdom. This policy however was resisted and challenged by many states of India who were crushed by the Company. In 1846 The British fought a prolonged war in Afghanistan and established Company Rule in Sind. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh they annexed Punjab in 1849. -
The Doctrine of Lapse
Lord Dalhousie who was the Governor- General from 1848 to 1856 devised a policy that was known as the Doctrine of lapse. The Doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler died without an heir, the kingdom would become company territory. Many kingdom were annexed simply by this Doctrine.
Then The Company too over Awadh in 1856 but had an argument-they said they were "obliged by duty" to take over Awadh in order to free the people from the "misgovernment" of the nawab but this led to great revolt. -
Conclusion
The East India Company became a territorial colonial power. This Processes was also added by the new steam technology. Till then it would around 6 months to travel to India by sea. This journey was reduced to three weeks by steamships so that the britishers and their families could come to India. Now by 1857 East India Company had virtually the whole of India under its control.
