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ADVENT OF EUROPEANS

Portuguese

● Vasco-da-Gama reached the port of Calicut in 1498 during the reign of king
Zamorin (Hindu ruler of Calicut).
● Vasco-da-Gama returned with a cargo which sold for 60 times the cost of his
voyage.
● Francisco de Almeida was First Portuguese governor.
● Alfonso de Albuquerque, the second Governor of India arrived in 1509 and
captured Goa in AD 1510 which became free in 1961. It was Alfonso de
Albuquerque who laid the real foundation of Portuguese power in India. When he
died in 1515, Portuguese were left as the strongest naval power in India with
domination over the west coast.
● Though the behaviour of the Portuguese was barbaric, they maintained, after their
arrival, their possessions in India for a century because they controlled over high
seas, their soldiers and administrators were strictly disciplined, and they did not
have to face Mughal Empire as the then South India was outside Mughal influence.
● A number of important Portuguese settlements were gradually established near the
sea by the successors of Albuquerque. These were Diu, Daman, Salsette, Bassein,
Chaul and Bombay, San Thome near Madras and Hugli in Bengal. Their Authority
also extended over the major part of Ceylon. But in course of time they lost most
of these places with the exception of Diu, Daman and Goa, which they retained
until 1961.

Dutch

● The United East India Company of the Netherlands (Dutch East India Company)
was incorporated for trading in the East by a charter granted by the Dutch States
General on the 20th March, 1602, which also empowered the said Company to
make war, conclude treaties, acquire territories and build fortresses. It was thus
“made a great instrument of war and conquest”.
● They conquered Jacatra and established Batavia on its ruins in 1619, blockaded
Goa in 1639, captured Malacca in 1641 and got possession of the last Portuguese
settlement in Ceylon in 1658.
● Commercial interests drew the Dutch also to India, where they established factories
in Gujarat, on the Coromandel Coast and in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, entering deep
into the interior of the lower Ganges valley.
● The more important of their factories in India were at Masulipatam (1605), Pulicat
(1610), Surat (1616), Bimlipatam (1641), Karikal (1645), Chinsura (1653),
Cassimbazar, Baranagore, Patna, Balasore, Negapatam (1658) and Cochin (1663).
● By supplanting the Portuguese, the Dutch practically maintained a monopoly of the
spice trade in the East throughout the seventeenth century.
● Dutch were defeated by English at the Battle of Bedara in AD 1759 and as per
the agreement, the Dutch gained control over Indonesia and the British over
India, Sri Lanka and Malaya.
● Settlements They set-up their first factory at Masulipatnam in 1605.
● Their other factories were at Pulicat, Chinsura, Patna, Balasore, Nagapattinam,
Cochin, Surat, Karaikal, and Kasimbazar.

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English

● The English East India Company was formed in 1599 under a charter granted by
Queen Elizabeth in 1600.
● The early voyages of the English Company were directed to Sumatra, Java and the
Moluccas in order to get a share of the spice trade. It was in 1608 that the first
attempt was made to establish factories in India.
● Jahangir granted a Farman to Captain William Hawkins permitting the English
to establish a factory at Surat (1613).
● In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe succeeded in getting an imperial farman to trade and
establish a factory in all parts of the Mughal Empire by ruler Jahangir.
● In 1690, a factory was established at Suttanati by Jab Charnock. In 1698,
following the acquisition of zamindari of three villages of Suttanati, Kalikata and
Govindpur, the city of Calcutta was founded. Fort William was set-up in 1700.
● The English obtained the Golden Farman with the right to trade in the kingdom
of Golkunda for a fixed customs duty, from the Sultan of Golkunda.
● Mughal emperor Aurangzeb issued a farman granting the Company the right to
trade duty free. The farman was granted for the trade of Company only but is was
misused also for the officials of the Company for their personal trade.
● In 1717, John Surman obtained a farman from Farrukhsiyar, which gave large
concessions to the company. This farman has been called the Magna Carta of the
Company.
● Battle of Plassey (1757) English Robert Clive defeated Sirajuddaulah, the Nawab
of Bengal, with the help of Nawab’s commander-in-chief Mir Jafar.
● Battle of Buxar (1764) Captain Munro defeated joint forces of Mir Qasim (Bengal),
Shujauddaulah (Awadh) and Shah Alam II (Mughal). The war was brought to an
end by the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765: Diwani of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa went
to the British.

French

● The French East India Company was formed by Colbert under state patronage
in 1664. The First French factory was established at Surat by Francois Caron in
1668. A factory at Masulipatnam was set-up in 1669.
● The French East India Company was heavily dependent on the French
government which gave it treasury grants, subsidies and loans.
● In Bengal, Nawab Shaista Khan granted a site to the French in 1674, on which they
built the famous French factory of Chandernagore in 1690-1692.
● The European rivalries between the Dutch (supported by the English) and the
French adversely influenced the position of the French in India. Pondicherry was
captured by the Dutch in 1693 but was handed back to the French by the Treaty of
Ryswick in 1697.
● The French occupied Mauritius in 1721, Mahe on the Malabar coast in 1725, and
Karikal in 1739.
● After 1742 political motives began to overshadow the desire for commercial gain
and Dupleix began to cherish the ambition of a French Empire in India, which being
challenged by the English opened a new chapter in Indian history. Joseph Marquis
Dupleix was Governor-General of French India and rival of Robert Clive.
● French were defeated by English in the Battle of Wandiwash (1760): The Count
de Lally's army, burdened by a lack of naval support and funds, attempted to regain
the fort at Vandavasi, now in Tamil Nadu. He was attacked by Sir Eyre Coote's
forces and decisively defeated.

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o The French lost their Indian possessions including Pondicherry, Mahe,

Gingee and Karaikal to the British.
o The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763.
o As per the Treaty, Chandannagar and Pondicherry were returned to France,
but they were barred from fortifying them or having troops in them. They
could only have trading activities.

Danes

● The Danish East India Company was formed in 1616 under King Christian IV.
● After landing on the Indian mainland, a treaty was concluded with the ruler of
the Tanjore Kingdom, Raghunatha Nayak, who gave the Danes possession of the
town of Tranquebar, and permission to trade in the kingdom by treaty of
19 November 1620.
● The Danish colony 'Tranquebar' was established on the Southern Coromandel coast
of India.
● In 1670, a second Danish East India Company was established, before it too was
dissolved in 1729.
● Settlements: Serampur (Bengal) and Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu) sold their
settlements to the English in 1845.

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