KSEEB Class 10 SSLC History The Trade And Commerce Relationship of India With The Europeans
Trade and commerce relationship between India and Europe existed since ancient times.
Indian spices such as pepper, cardamom, ginger and various others were in great demand in Europe.
Constantinople of Eastern Roman (Byzantium) Empire was the centre of international business and considered as the ‘Gate of European Trade’.
In 1453, the Ottoman Turks captured the city of Constantinople and therefore all the trade routes which connected the city of Constantinople came under the control of the Turks.
Spain and Portugal were making efforts to break the monopoly of the Italian traders, so they started encouraging courageous sailors to find a sea route to India.
The invention of Compass, Astrolabes and Gunpowder provided further momentum to this.
The Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama left Lisbon and reached Kappadu near Calicut on the East coast of India in 1498.
By this, he became successful in discovering the new sea route to India.
Role Of Europeans In India’s Trade
The Arrival of Europeans to India for Trade
- With the success of the Portuguese many Dutch, French and English arrived in India for trade.
- Portuguese were the first to arrive in India for trade and were also the last to leave India on the sea route.
- After Vasco da Gama, Francisco de Almeida arrived in India as the Viceroy of India.
- He implemented the ‘Blue Water Policy’ to establish supremacy over the sea.
- Alfonso de Albuquerque is considered to be the real founder of Portuguese Empire in India.
- Alfonso waged a battle against the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510, won Goa, and Goa became the administrative centre of Portuguese administration in India.
- Dutch are from Holland or Netherlands. They established United East India Company in 1602 to do business with eastern countries and entered countries such as India, Java, Sumatra, Indonesia and spice rich islands.
- The Dutch broke the monopoly of the Portuguese by establishing warehouses in Surat, Broach, Kambe, Kochin, Nagapattinam, Masulipatnam, Chinsor and at other places in India.
On 31st December 1600, Queen Elizabeth issued a royal charter authorizing the East India Company to trade with the eastern countries for 15 years. - The East India Company started the business formally in the year 1613.
- The Mughal Emperor Jahangir issued a royal permission to the English to establish the at Surat.
- In 1617, Sir Thomas Roe arrived at Jahangir’s court as the royal ambassador from the court of James I and sought permission to establish factories in other places of the Mughal Empire.
- English established factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach.
- In 1639, English took Madras from the King of Chandragiri and established the St. George Fort.
- In 1668, Charles II, the Prince of England gave Bombay at an annual rent of ten pounds a year to the East India Company.
- In 1690, the English purchased three villages, namely- Sutanauti, Kalikata and Govindapura on the banks of Hugli River and built Fort William.
- 17th century, the English had established Bombay, Madras and Calcutta as the centres of their Presidencies.
- By the later part of the 18th century, the English made Calcutta as their capital city.
- The French East India Company started as a government owned company in 1664 and started its first factory in Surat in 1668.
- Later, they established their factories in Machilipatnam, Chandranagara, Mahe, Karaikal, Cossimbazar and Balasur.
- In 1674, the French took Valikandapuram from a local Muslim official and developed it as a major trade center named Puducheri or Pondicherry.
- Dupleix, who arrived in India as the Governor General of the French was ambitious of establishing French as the major power in South India and his ambition led to Carnatic wars with the English.
History Of India’s Trade With Europeans
The Carnatic Wars in the backdrop of European Political Developments
The Portuguese and Dutch had withdrawn from India by the 18th century, as they were unable to face competition from French and English.
French and English now resorted to show strength in order to establish their respective dominance in India.
Political volatility which emerged in the Hyderabad and Carnatic (Eastern part of Tamil Nadu) regions led to three Carnatic wars.
First Carnatic War was fought from 1746 to 1748. This was ended with the “Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle” in Europe between France and England.
▸ Second Carnatic War was fought from 1749 to 1754 ended with the Treaty of Pondicherry. The French recalled Dupleix.
The Second Carnatic War brought laurels to English while French suffered a political setback.Third Carnatic War was fought from 1756 to 1763. Sir Eyre Coote of the English Army defeated the French in this war.
With all these developments, the French lost their importance in India.
- The Arya Samaj was started in the year 1875 by Dayanand Saraswati in Kathewad.
- Dayanand Saraswati outlined his ideas in a book titled “Satyartha Prakasha”.
- He opened the head office of Arya Samaj in Lahore in 1877.
- ‘Shuddhi Movement’ was one of the important programmes of Arya Samaj. ‘Cow Protection Associations’ were started for the protection of cows.
- After the death of Dayanand Saraswati, ‘Dayananda Anglo-Vedic College’ was started in 1886 and ‘Gurukula Vidyalaya’ was started in Haridwar.
- Prarthana Samaj was founded by Dr. Athma Ram Panduranga in 1867 in Bombay with the objective of finding solutions to various problems faced by women and lower caste groups.
- Justice Mahadeva Govinda Ranade, R. G. Bhandarkar and N. G. Chandravarkar were the prominent leaders of the Prarthana Samaj.
- Satyashodhak Samaj was established by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule in 1873 to provide equal rights to non-Brahmin class and women.
- In order to build a philosophical base for the movement, Jyotiba Phule wrote books titled “Gulamagiri” and “Shetkarayacha Aasud”.
- Ambedkar was one of the prominent persons who were inspired by the work of the Phule couple.
The Battle of Plassey, Battle of Buxar and Dual-Government System
After gaining political control upon Southern India, the British made efforts to gain control of the rich Bengal province in the later 18th century.
- The East India Company was obtaining rich profits from Bengal province which had achieved significant growth in the spheres of agriculture, commerce and industry.
- The dastakaths (licence) issued by the Mughal ruler Farrukh Siyar was the main reason for this.
- These Dastakaths were misused by the company’s individual officials which resulted into huge loss to the Bengal Government. So, all the Nawabs from Murashid Ali Khan to Alwardi Khan opposed such misuses. This led to confrontation between the Nawabs and the company and resulted into two major wars, namely- Battle of Plassey and Battle of Buxar.
- Battle of Plassey took place between Siraj-ud-Daula and the British in 1757.
- Misuse of Dastakaths, mending of the fort by the British without permission and Black Room Tragedy in which 123 English men who were imprisoned by Siraj-ud-Daula had died were the major reasons for the Battle of Plassey.
Trade And Commerce In India During European Colonization
Outcome of the Battle of Plassey :
(i) This war exposed the lack of unity among the Indians and the greed of Indian businessmen.
(ii) Mir Jaffar became the Nawab of Bengal.
(iii) The company obtained exclusive rights to trade in Bengal.
(iv) Mir Jaffar paid rupees seventeen crores and seventy lakh as relief amount.
The Battle of Buxar was fought between the combined forces of Mir Qasim and the British Army led by Hector Munro at Buxar in 1764.
In this battle, Mir Qasim was defeated and he ran away from the battlefield and Shah Alam II surrendered.
Outcome of the Battle of Buxar:
(i) Shah Alam II accorded the Diwani rights of Bengal to the British.
(ii) Shah Alam II gave away all the rights of Bengal to the British for an annual fee of 26 lakh rupees.
(iii) The Nawab of Awadh paid a fine of 50 lakh rupees for waging war against the British.
(iv) After the death of Mir Jaffar, his son was given pension and the company obtained complete administration of Bengal.
The Battle of Buxar provided complete power to the British in Bihar, Bengal, Odisha and Awadh.
In 1765, Robert Clive introduced the concept of ‘Dual Government’. According to this, the British had the right to collect taxes and the Nawab had power over administrative issues such as justice, etc.
In this way, the British obtained political control upon India to protect their business self interest.