The Advent Of European In India
Introduction
Modern India was shaped by the arrival of Europeans and the consolidation of British power there. Europeans initially arrived to India for trade, but they soon took over the nation's politics and administration. Britain consequently controlled India for more than 200 years. India's tremendous richness, the strong demand for Indian goods like spices, calicoes, silk, numerous precious stones, porcelain, etc., and European advancements in shipbuilding and navigation in the 15th century all contributed to the advent of European powers in India.
Background Of European Settlement
• The Battle of Plassey in 1757 saw the English East India Company defeat the Nawab of Bengal, ushering in a period of British control in India.
• However, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, Europeans had reached India. Initially, they intended to engage in Indian Ocean trade while acquiring spices for European markets, like pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and others.
• The first Europeans to colonize India were the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama established a straight sea passage around the Cape of Good Hope from Europe to India around the end of the fifteenth century.
• On the west coast of India, the Portuguese took control of Goa in 1510. Going forward, Goa served as the political center for Portugal in India, as well as further east in Malacca and Java.
Start Of Portuguese Trade
• Through a combination of political abrasiveness and naval dominance, the Portuguese mastered a pattern of managing the Indian Ocean commerce.
• They were able to regulate transportation in the Arabian Sea because to their forts at Daman and Diu and their heavily armed ships.
• The Dutch and the English in particular, who arrived in India over a century after the Portuguese did, adopted the Portuguese strategy.
• Therefore, we must view the arrival of European commercial businesses as a continual process of interaction with Indian government leaders, neighborhood business owners, and society that culminated in the British invasion of Bengal in 1757.
European Arrival In India
Portuguese people (1505–1961)
• The Portuguese were the first Europeans to travel to India after Vasco da Gama found a direct sea passage there in 1498.
• He created a trading factory in Cannanore. Cochin, Cannanore, and Calicut progressively developed into significant Portuguese commerce hubs.
• Alfonso de Albuquerque, the administrator of the Portuguese territories in India, took control of Goa in 1510. They had taken over Daman, Diu, and a large coastal area by the end of the 16th century.
• However, because they were unable to compete with stronger European nations the Dutch and the British who arrived with the same goal as the Portuguese, their monopoly on trade with India did not survive for very long.
Portuguese decline
• In spite of some of them continuing to trade independently and many turning to piracy and thievery, the Portuguese had lost their commercial clout in India by the 18th century.
• In reality, several Portuguese pirates based themselves in the Hooghly to operate out of the Bay of Bengal. The decline of Portugal was caused by a number of events.
• The advent of strong kingdoms in Egypt, Persia, and North India, as well as the unruly Marathas as its close neighbors, reduced the Portuguese's local advantages in India. Salsette and Bassein were taken from the Portuguese by the Marathas in 1739.
• Portuguese religious policy, including the Jesuits' operations, stoked political anxiety. In addition to their dislike of Muslims, Hindus also resented the Portuguese government's policy of Christian conversion. Their unethical commercial practices also sparked a heated outcry.
• The Portuguese had a reputation for being marine robbers. Their aggression and haughtiness angered both the imperial Mughals and the leaders of petty states.
• Portugal's imperial endeavors were diverted to the West with the discovery of Brazil. The Portuguese commercial monopoly in India suffered as a result of the 1580–1581 union of the two kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, which included Portugal in Spain's wars with England and Holland.
• The English and Dutch, who were acquiring ocean navigation techniques, eventually learned of it as well, ending the Portuguese's former monopoly on knowledge of the sea route to India.
• An intense rivalry grew as new trading communities from Europe arrived in India. In this conflict, the Portuguese had to make room for stronger and more resourceful rivals.
• Portuguese resistance was overpowered by the Dutch and English, who had more resources and reasons to want to colonize other countries. One by one, the Portuguese possessions were lost to its enemies.
• After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Goa, which remained in Portuguese hands, lost its significance as a port, and it eventually didn't matter who possessed it.
• The Dutch took over the spice trade, and Brazil overtook Goa as the economic hub of Portugal's overseas empire. In 1683, the Marathas attacked Goa after two naval raids.
Dutch people (1602–1759)
Arrival of Dutch
• Dutch immigrants arrived in India in 1605, establishing their first factory in Masaulipatam, Andhra Pradesh.
• They posed a challenge to British business interests as well as Portuguese holdings in India, as the British sought to monopolize trade there.
• In 1623, a deal was negotiated between the British and the Dutch. As a result, the British and Dutch both abandoned their claims to Indonesia and India, respectively.
Decline of Dutch
• The Malay Archipelago trade was started by the Dutch.
• Additionally, during the third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1744), contact between Surat and the new English city of Bombay was cut off, which led to the Dutch forces capturing three English ships that were headed home in the Bay of Bengal.
• The Dutch were defeated at the Battle of Hooghly (November 1759) as a result of the English reprisal, dealing a fatal blow to Dutch aspirations in India.
• The Dutch were only concerned with trade, they had no desire to create an empire in India.
• They built a fortune doing business in the Indonesian Spice Islands, which was their major area of commercial interest.
English people (1599–1947)
• A group of English businessmen created the East India Company, which Queen Elizabeth granted exclusive trading privileges in the East in the year 1600
• In 1608, Jahangir authorized the Company to build factories along the western coast.
• In the Mughal Empire, free commerce was allowed to the Company in 1615. The Company's business operations were growing quickly.
• However, the Portuguese, Dutch, and ultimately French nations continually posed a threat to its unabated rise.
• The Company eventually established itself in Western and Southern India as well as Eastern India.
• The East India Company changed from a commercial to a political institution by taking advantage of political unrest, Indian kings' uneasiness, and the fall of the Mughal Empire.
French people (1664–1760)
Arrival of French
• The final group to enter India in search of trading prospects was the French. In Gujarat's Surat in 1668, the French East India Company built its first factory.
• The French Company gradually built plants in a number of locations around India, especially near the coast.
• Mahe, Karaikal, Balasor, Qasim Bazar, and other key trading hubs were operated by the French East India Company.
• Like the English, the French started to fight for political supremacy in Southern India. The English East India Company and the French East India Company consequently frequently disagreed.
• Over a 20-year period (1744–1763), three protracted conflicts were waged between the British and the French with the aim of acquiring territory and commercial domination. The competition continued for many years.
• With their defeat at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1763, the French had their hopes of establishing governmental authority over India crushed. After conquering the French, the English East India Company had no opponents in India.
Loss of French
• Because of its trade superiority, the English East India Company was the wealthier of the two.
• The strength of EIC's navy was superior. They could transport both supplies from Bengal and warriors from Europe. The French lacked such methods of resource replenishment.
• Its holdings in India were more defended and more prosperous since they had been held for a longer time.
• The French government was crucial to the French Company.
• Dupleix's Errors: Dupleix failed to focus his efforts in one area, pay attention to the company's finances, and ask the French government for assistance in carrying out his goals.
• In contrast to the French, who only had one port, Pondicherry, the English possessed three significant ports, namely Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, giving them an advantage in nearly every area, including trade and naval might.
• After conquering the Battle of Plassey, the British were granted access to Bengal, a prosperous region.
• Numerous competent warriors served in the British army, including Sir Eyre Coote, Stringer Lawrence, and Robert Clive.
English Success Against Other European Powers: Factors
Trading companies' nature and structure
• The stockholders of the English East India firm held significant authority, and the firm was managed by a board of directors, whose members were chosen annually.
• The nature of the state-owned commercial firms in France and Portugal was in many ways feudalistic.
Naval Superiority
• In addition to being the biggest at the time, the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom was also the most technologically advanced.
• The British were also successful in defeating the French and Portuguese in India thanks to the might and speed of their naval ships.
• The Portuguese taught the English the value of an effective navy, and they technologically developed their own fleet.
Industry Revolution
• With the development of new machinery like the spinning jenny, steam engine, power loom, and others in England at the beginning of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution got underway.
• The productivity of the textile, metallurgical, steam power, and agricultural industries was greatly boosted by these devices.
• Other European countries experienced the industrial revolution much later, allowing England to preserve its predominance.
Competence and discipline in the military
• The British troops were well-trained and disciplined. The British military leaders were thinkers who tried forth novel military strategies.
• Technology developments resulted in the military having adequate equipment.
• The combination of all of these factors made it possible for English fighters to overpower greater forces.
Government Resilience
• With the exception of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Britain had an effective monarchy and a stable government.
• Other European countries, like France, went through a bloody uprising in 1789, which was followed by the Napoleonic Wars.
• The loss of Napoleon in 1815 considerably damaged France's position, and the 80-year struggle in the 17th century, which also weakened Portuguese imperialism, engaged the Dutch and Spain.
Less Religious Enthusiasm
• Britain was less religiously passionate and less concerned in evangelizing the world than Spain, Portugal, or the Dutch.
• Because of this, its rule was much more popular among the populace than that of other colonial powers.
Debt Market Utilization
• Using debt markets to finance its wars was one of the key and innovative factors that helped Britain flourish between the middle of the eighteenth and middle of the nineteenth centuries while other European nations failed.
• The Bank of England was founded to sell government debt to money markets in exchange for a respectable return on Britain's victory over adversaries like France and Spain. It was the world's first central bank.
• Because of this, Britain was able to invest significantly more in its military than its rivals. France, a rival of Britain, was unable to match the English expenditure, instead, from 1694 and 1812, using its antiquated ways of fund-raising, first under monarchs, then under revolutionary governments, and eventually under Napoleon Bonaparte, France simply went bankrupt.
Conclusion
In the second part of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, India experienced a furious national resistance to British Empire. The Indian people's and the British rulers' differing interests led to this conflict. Indians' sense of nationalism were stoked by the nature of foreign rule, which ripened the material, moral, intellectual, and political circumstances for the creation and growth of a major national movement.