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East India Company Coming East
In 1600 the East India Company(EIC) got a charter from the queen, granting them the sole right to trade with the east.This meant that only EIC only had the right trade with India.The EIC wanted Mercantile trade with India as I. those days mercantile trading gave a lot of profit. -
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A New Power Rising Up
After the death of Aurangzeb, the last powerful ruler of the Mughal empire. The subadars and the big zamindar began asserting their authority and establish regional kingdom.
By the second half of eighteenth century, a new power was emerging in India, The British. -
The Twist
The royal granted by the queen ,however, could not prevent other European powers from entering the eastern market.By the time the EIC sailed the the Indian Ocean they saw other companies from different countries that have entered India, the Portuguese, dutch and French. the main problem was that they all were interested in the same thing the EIC was, they were fine qualities of silk and cotton. -
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The East India Company begins the trade
the first EIC factory was set up on the banks of river Hugli in 1651. The factory has a ware house, where goods for exports were kept. By 1696 they started building a fort around there settlement. After 2 years EIC bribed the Mughal official into giving them the zamindari right over 3 villages.They also took a Farman from Auranzep granting them the right to do duty free trade. -
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Trade leading to battles
Through the early eighteenth century the battle between the nawabs and the EIC intensified.As now the Bengal was not in the control of the Mughal anymore the nawabs demanded tax from the EIC ,but EIC were not interested in paying tax to the Nawabs. Bengal had strong Nawabs like the Murshid Quli Khan followed by Alivardi and Sirajuddaulah, and after some conflicts, the fight was culminated by the Battle of Plassey. -
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A Change in Army
states like Awadh and Benaras started recruiting peasants into their armies and training them as professional soldiers. The East India Company adopted the same method when it began recruitment for its own army, which came to be known as the sepoy army. -
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The beginning of Battle of Plassey
After the death of Alivardi Khan in 1756, Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal.In 1757, After the EIC disagree with the nawab for paying taxes, stoping fortification and stopping melding coins, the nawab marched with 30000 soldiers to the English
factory at Kassimbazar captured the Company officials,
locked the warehouse.Then they marched to Calcutta to conquer company fort -
The Battle of Plassey Begins
On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Company
officials in Madras sent forces under the command of
Robert Clive. The main reason for the victory of the EIC in the Battle of Plassey was that that EIC bribed one of the Sirajuddalah commanders, Mir Jafar. Mir Jafar and his army never came to the battle and in return he was rewarded as the new nawab of Bengal. -
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Puppet Rulers
After the company defeated the nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey, the company was still reluctant to take over the administration of Bengal. Soon the Company discovered that this was rather difficult. For even the puppet nawabs were not always
as helpful as the Company wanted them to be.When Mir Jafar
protested, the Company deposed him and installed Mir
Qasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained, he in
turn was defeated in a battle fought at Buxar(1764). -
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Company Rule Expands
The Company rarely launched a
direct military attack on an unknown territory. Instead
it used a variety of political, economic and diplomatic
methods to extend its influence before annexing an
Indian kingdom.the Company appointed Residents in Indian states. They were political or commercial agents and their job was to serve and further the interests of the Company.They tried to decide who was to the next successor to the throne or who was to be appointed in administrative post. -
Marathas
With their defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761,
the Marathas’ dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered.
They were divided into many states under different
chiefs (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia,
Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were held
together in a confederacy under a Peshwa (Principal
Minister) who became its effective military and
administrative head based in Pune. -
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Tipu Sultan- The tiger of Mysore
Mysore had grown in strength under the leadership
of powerful rulers like Haidar Ali( 1761-82) and his son Tipu Sultan (1782-99).Tipu Sultan stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom.He took help from the French to modernised his army.The EIC and fought four wars with Mysore.Only in the last the Battle of Seringapatam(1799) did the Company win a victory.Tipu Sultan was killed defending his capital.Subsidiary alliance was imposed on the state. -
EIC Finally Taking the Administration
MIr Jafar was reinstalled as the nawab of Bengal once again.But after he died in 1765, the EIC finally took the administration in their hands.Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal.The Diwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources of Bengal for example before the battle of Plassey the EIC had to bring golds and silver from Britain to buy goods, but The outflow ofgold from Britain entirely stopped after the assumption of Diwani in Bengal -
The changes in the Spere of Justice
From 1772 a new system of justice was established.Each district was to have two courts a criminal court and a civil court.Hindu Pandits interpreted Indian laws for civil court.The criminal courts were still under a a judge and a Muslim jurist but under the supervision of the collectors. -
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The New Administrative System
Warren Hasting(1773-85) made many changes in our administrative system. In his reign they have conquered Bengal, Bombay and Madras. Territories were broadly divided into administrative
units called Presidencies. There were three Presidencies:
Bengal, Madras and Bombay.Each was ruled by a
Governor.the supreme head was known as Governor-General.Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General, introduced several administrative reforms in Justice -
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Uniformity in Justice
A major problem was that the Brahman pandits
gave different interpretations of local laws based on
different schools of the dharmashastra. To bring about
uniformity, in 1775 eleven pandits were asked to compile
a digest of Hindu laws. N.B. Halhed translated this
digest into English. By 1778 a code of Muslim laws was
also compiled for the benefit of European judges.A Supreme Court was also made in 1773 -
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EIC taking control over Marathas
The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars. In
the first war that ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05) was fought on different fronts, resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna river including Agra
and Delhi.The Third Anglo-Maratha War of
1817-19 crushed Maratha power. The Peshwa was
removed. The Company now had complete control over
the territories south of the Vindhyas. -
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European style training
In the early nineteenth century the British began
to develop a uniform military culture. Soldiers were increasingly subjected to European-style training, drill
and discipline that regulated their life far more than
before. -
Subsidiary forces
The Company forced the states into a “subsidiary
alliance”. According to the terms of this alliance, Indian
rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed
forces.They were to be protected by the Company, but In return the Indian ruler had to pay EIC for maintaining the army and if they were unable to pay a part of land was taken away, for example when Richard Wellesley was GovernorGeneral, the Nawab of Awadh was forced to give half of his territory to the EIC as they failed to pay. -
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The claim to paramountcy
Under Lord Hastings a new policy of “paramountcy” was initiated.In this the company claimed them selves supreme hence its power was greater than that of Indian states. In order to protect its interests
it was justified in annexing or threatening to annex
any Indian kingdom. -
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The Need for Soldiers Declined
A change occurred in the eighteenth century when
Mughal successor states like Awadh and Benaras started
recruiting peasants into their armies and training them
as professional soldiers. The East India Company adopted
the same method when it began recruitment for its own
army, which came to be known as the sepoy army (from
the Indian word sipahi, meaning soldier). -
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The Revolt to Paramountcy
when the British tried to annex the small state of Kitoor, Rani Channamma took to arms and led an anti-British resistance movement. She was arrested in 1824 and died in prison in 1829.Rayanna, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor, carried on the resistance. With popular support he destroyed many British camps and records. He was caught and hanged by the British in 1830. -
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Company's worry
In the late 1830s the East India Company became worried about Russia.They thought that Russia would come from north west and conquer India. Now EIC next aim was to conquer north west region of India.They fought a prolonged war with Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842 and established indirect Company rule there. Sind was taken over in 1843.in 1839, two prolonged wars were fought with the Sikh kingdom. Ultimately, in 1849, Punjab was annexed. -
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The Doctrine of Lapse
The doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his kingdom would “lapse”, that is, become part of Company territory.
This policy was made by Dalhousie. Kingdom that were annexed by EIC were doctrine: Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854) Awadh(1856). -
conclusion
By 1857 the Company came to exercise direct rule
over about 63 per cent of the territory and 78 per cent
of the population of the Indian subcontinent.the East India Company
had virtually the whole of India under its control.