The Europeans Arrive and the British Win Bengal (1498-1772)

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Why the Europeans came

Spices, indigo, saltpetre and Indian cloth fetched huge profits in Europe, but Arab and Ottoman middlemen controlled the land routes. The search for a direct sea route ended when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in May 1498, where the Zamorin received him. Other European traders followed; each built fortified settlements, and their rivalry, together with the decline of Mughal power after 1707, slowly turned trade into conquest.

The Portuguese and the Dutch

Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy (1505), followed the Blue Water policy of sea control. Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510; Daman, Diu, Salsette, Bassein and Hooghly were other settlements, and Asian ships had to buy Portuguese passes called cartaz. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to come and the last to leave, holding Goa until 1961. The Dutch East India Company, formed in 1602, set up its first Indian factory at Masulipatnam in 1605. Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeated the Dutch at Colachel in 1741, and the English beat them at Bedara in Bengal in 1759.

The English, the Danes and the French

The English East India Company received its charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. Its first permanent factory was set up at Surat in 1613; Fort St George at Madras followed in 1639, Bombay, part of the Portuguese dowry of Charles II, was leased to the Company in 1668, and Job Charnock founded the Calcutta settlement in 1690. In 1717 the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar allowed the Company duty-free trade in Bengal for 3,000 rupees a year; this farman is called the Magna Carta of the Company, and the misuse of its trade passes (dastaks) later angered the Nawabs. The Danish East India Company was formed in 1616; the Danes settled at Tranquebar and Serampore and sold them to the British in 1845. The French company was formed in 1664; its first factory was at Surat (1668), and Francois Martin founded Pondicherry in 1674, with Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal and Yanam as other settlements.

The Carnatic Wars

The Anglo-French contest was fought in the Carnatic, on the Coromandel coast. In the First Carnatic War (1746-48), an offshoot of the War of Austrian Succession, the French fleet under La Bourdonnais captured Madras, which Dupleix, the governor of Pondicherry, then held, and at St Thome (1746) a small French force routed Nawab Anwaruddin's large army, proving the strength of European-trained troops; the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) returned Madras to the English. The Second Carnatic War (1749-54) arose from succession disputes in Hyderabad and the Carnatic; Robert Clive's seizure and defence of Arcot (1751) turned the tide, and Dupleix was recalled in 1754. The Third Carnatic War was part of the Seven Years' War (1756-63): Sir Eyre Coote defeated Count de Lally at Wandiwash on 22 January 1760, and the Treaty of Paris (1763) returned the French settlements only as unfortified trading posts.

Plassey, 1757

In Bengal, Alivardi Khan was succeeded in 1756 by his grandson Siraj-ud-Daulah. The Company's misuse of dastaks, its unauthorised fortification of Calcutta and its shelter to the Nawab's opponents led Siraj to capture Calcutta in June 1756. Clive and Admiral Watson recaptured it early in 1757 and then won over the Nawab's commander Mir Jafar, Jagat Seth, Rai Durlabh and Omichand. At Plassey on the Bhagirathi, on 23 June 1757, most of the Nawab's army did not fight; only Mir Madan and Mohan Lal stayed loyal. Siraj fled and was killed, Mir Jafar became Nawab, and the Company received the zamindari of the 24 Parganas. Plassey was more a conspiracy than a battle, but it made the Company master of Bengal.

Buxar, 1764

Mir Jafar could not meet the Company's demands and was replaced in 1760 by his son-in-law Mir Qasim, who ceded Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong. Mir Qasim proved an able ruler: he shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger, and, when the English kept abusing dastaks, abolished internal duties for all traders. War broke out in 1763; defeated, he fled to Awadh and allied with its Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. Major Hector Munro defeated the three together at Buxar in October 1764. As a real battle against the combined forces of the emperor and two Nawabs, Buxar was more decisive than Plassey.

Treaty of Allahabad and dual government

Clive signed two treaties at Allahabad in 1765. Shah Alam II granted the Company the Diwani, the right to collect revenue, of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in return for 26 lakh rupees a year and the districts of Kora and Allahabad. Shuja-ud-Daulah got Awadh back, except Kora and Allahabad, and paid 50 lakh rupees as war indemnity. In Bengal Clive set up the dual government (1765-72): the Company held the Diwani, while the Nizamat (police and justice) stayed nominally with the Nawab but was run by Company-nominated deputies, Muhammad Reza Khan in Bengal and Raja Shitab Rai in Bihar. Power without responsibility led to oppression and the Bengal famine of 1770. Warren Hastings ended the system in 1772 and moved the treasury from Murshidabad to Calcutta.

Key facts

First to come, last to leave: the Portuguese arrived with Vasco da Gama at Calicut (1498) and held Goa, taken by Albuquerque from Bijapur in 1510, until 1961.
Companies founded: English 1600, Dutch 1602, Danish 1616, French 1664. First factories: Dutch at Masulipatnam 1605, English at Surat 1613 (first permanent), French at Surat 1668.
English bases: Fort St George, Madras 1639; Bombay leased to the Company 1668; Calcutta founded by Job Charnock 1690.
Farrukhsiyar's farman of 1717, called the Magna Carta of the Company, allowed duty-free trade in Bengal for 3,000 rupees a year.
Carnatic Wars: First ended by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748); Second saw Clive at Arcot (1751); Third decided at Wandiwash (22 January 1760, Eyre Coote beat Lally) and ended by the Treaty of Paris (1763).
Colachel 1741: Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeated the Dutch. Bedara 1759: the English defeated the Dutch in Bengal.
Plassey, 23 June 1757: Clive versus Siraj-ud-Daulah; won over Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh, Jagat Seth and Omichand; Mir Madan and Mohan Lal stayed loyal.
Buxar, October 1764: Hector Munro defeated Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Shah Alam II together; Mir Qasim had shifted his capital to Munger.
Treaty of Allahabad, 1765: Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the Company for 26 lakh rupees a year to Shah Alam II; Awadh returned to Shuja-ud-Daulah for 50 lakh rupees.
Dual government 1765-72: Diwani with the Company, Nizamat with the Nawab; deputies Muhammad Reza Khan (Bengal) and Shitab Rai (Bihar); ended by Warren Hastings in 1772.

Quick revision

Vasco da Gama at Calicut 1498; Albuquerque took Goa 1510; Dutch company 1602, Masulipatnam 1605; English charter 31 Dec 1600, Surat 1613, Madras 1639, Bombay 1668, Calcutta 1690; Danes 1616; French 1664, Pondicherry 1674; farman of 1717; Aix-la-Chapelle 1748, Wandiwash 1760, Paris 1763; Plassey 23 Jun 1757; Buxar Oct 1764; Treaty of Allahabad 1765 (Diwani); dual government 1765-72, ended by Hastings

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