ADVENT OF THE
Presented by,
Devjyoti Das
EUROPEANS Dept of General Studies
UEM Kolkata
INTRODUCTION
• India’s trading relation with Europe goes back to ancient days of Greeks.
• The Asian trade was mostly carried out by the Arab Merchants and sailors
while the European and Mediterranean trade was virtually the monopoly of
the Italians (Genoa, Sicily and Venice)
• The decline of the Roman empire in the 7th Century and changed political
scenario in India disconnected the direct link between India and the West.
• The old trading routes between East and West came under the Turkish
control after the Ottoman conquest of Asia Minor and subsequent capture
of Constantinople.
• The merchents of Genoa and Venice refused to let new nations and states
of Spain and Portugal to have any share in trades via these routes.
INTRODUCTION
• Early Europeans explored sea routes to India
for the purpose of trade. Main Pioneers
were the Portuguese.
• Vasco-Da-Gama was the first one to
discover the sea route to India in 1498 and
he reached Calicut (Present Kozhikode).
• After Portuguese, The Dutch, The English,
The Danes and The French came to India.
• Ultimately , it was the French and English
who continued to remain in power in India.
• These foreign traders started attaining
political power with the decline of the
Mughal Empire.
THE PORTUGUESE
THE PORTUGUESE
• In 1498, Vasco da Gama discovered a new
and all sea route via Cape of Good Hope,
assisted by a Gujarati pilot, Abdul Majid :
reached Calicut on May 17 1498.
• He was welcomed by King Zamorin (or
Samuthiri) – thus was successful in
establishing a direct sea route between
India and Europe.
• Adam Smith called two discoveries as
the two greatest developments . i.e new
sea route via Cape of Good Hope and
the discovery of America by Columbus.
THE PORTUGUESE
• In 1502, established factory @ Cochin
and was made the initial capital of
Portuguese in India
• The first Governor of Portuguese in India was
Francisco Almeida (1505-09). He introduced
‘Blue Water Policy of Indian Ocean’.
• Introduced the policy of Imperialism
• In Goa, the Portuguese established
themselves as landlords, built new roads,
introduced new crops like cashew nuts,
tobacco, and bettered the plantation
variety of coconut.
THE PORTUGUESE
• Nino-da-Cunha (1529-1538) transferred
the capital from Cochin to Goa in
1530.
• He acquired Diu and Bassein from
Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (1534)
• In 1534, he secured permission to built
factories at Sadhgaon and
Chittagong from the Sultan of Bengal,
Ghiyas-Uddin Mahmood Shah, the last
Sultan of Hussain Shahi Dynasty.
• Portuguese acquired Daman in 1559.
THE PORTUGUESE
• In 1579, built a fort and laid
settlement at Hooghly.
• Monopolized the trade of salt and
levied heavy duty tax on tobacco,
thus infuriating the Mughals. Also
built custom house.
• They captured 2 slave girls of
Mumtaz Mahal, which led to a siege
by Shah Jahan in 1632- ordered
Qasim Khan, governor of Bengal.
• The Portuguese fled.
Basilica of the Holy Rosary, Bandel
THE PORTUGUESE
• The famous Jesuit Saint
Francisco Xavier arrived in
India with Martin Alfonso de
Souza (1542-45).
• Eventually all the Portuguese
territories were taken by
Marathas, Dutch and English
except Goa, Diu and Daman
• Coincidently, Portuguese were
the first European power who
came to India, and were also
the last to leave India.
THE DUTCH
THE DUTCH
• The Dutch merchants came to India
in 1595.
• The Dutch East India company was
formed by a charter of Dutch
Parliament in March 1602,
• The Dutch East India Company
established factories in India at
• Masulipatnam in 1605
• Pulicat (1610)
• Surat (1616)
• Bimlipatam (1641)
• Karaikal (1645),
• Chinsurah,Kasimbazar, Patna,
Balasore, Nagapatam and Cochin.
THE DUTCH
• Carried out Indigo farming in
Uttar Pradesh at Yamuna valley
and parts of central India
• Pulicat was their main centre in
India till Nagapatam replaced it
in 1690.
• The Dutch conceded to British
after their defeat in the Battle of
Bedera in 1759.
THE DANES
• The Danes arrived in India in
1616. They established settlement
at Tranqueber (Tamil Nadu) in
1620 and Serampore (Bengal) in
1676. Serampore was their
headquarters.
• They were forced to sell their
settlements to the British in 1854.
THE FRENCH
• The French East India Company formed in
1664 by Jean Baptiste Colbert under state
patronage during the reign of Louis XIV.
• The first French factory was established at
Surat by Francois Caron in 1668 and second
at Masulipatnam 1669.
• They occupied Mahe, Yanam and Karaikal.
• The foundation of Pondicherry was laid in
1673 by Francis Martin, which afterwards
became their capital. They also developed
a factory at Chandannagar.
• The Governors, Lenoir and Dumas revived
the French power in India between 1720-42
and the Anglo French conflict started with
the arrival of Governor Dupleix in 1742.
THE FRENCH
• The French Governor Joseph Francois
Dupleix captured Madras in 1746, which
was restored to the English in 1748.
• Consequently the English and the French
was engaged in many conflicts leading
to Anglo French rivalry in India
• In order to control the southern region of
India the French and English fought three
major wars known as the Carnatic war
between 1746-1763.
• Ultimately , the English defeated the
French leading to the latter’s gradual
decline in India.
THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY
• The British East India Company
was formed by a group of
merchants in 1599 known as
Merchant Adventures.
• Captain William Hawkins arrived
at the court of Jahangir in 1609-
wanted to establish factory at
Surat, but faced resistance from
the Portuguese
• Hence established factory at
Masulipattanam
THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY
• Sir Thomas Roe visited Jahangir’s
court (1615) as an ambassador of
King James I to seek permission to
trade in India.
• King Charles II married the
Portuguese princess Catherine
Braganza in 1662- Presidency of
Bombay was given as “dowry” to
King Charles II by the Portuguese
King.
• Surat was replaced as HQ by
Bombay acquired from Charles-II on
lease as the headquarters on the
West coast in 1687.
THE BRITISH EAST
INDIA COMPANY
• In 1639, obtained Madras from Raja of
Chandragiri with permission to build a
fortified factory, which was named Fort
St. George.
• In 1690, Job Charnock, established a
factory at Sutanati and the Zamindari
of three villages Sutanati, Kalikata and
Govindpur were acquired by the British
(1698). These three villages grew as
city of Calcutta.
• The factory at Sutanati was fortified
and named Fort William in 1700.
ANGLO-FRENCH RIVALRY
• The Anglo-French rivalry in India
began with Austrian war of
succession.
• The rivalry in the form of Three
Anglo-Carnatic Wars decided once
for all the English were to become
the masters of India.
ANGLO-CARNATIC WARS
• First Carnatic War (1746-48) – It was a
continuation of Austrian war of succession
due to the Anglo- French rivalry in Europe,
ended in 1748 with the treaty of Aix- La
Chapelle. French being Victorious.
• Second Carnatic War (1749- 54)- Although it
remained indecisive but it surely
undermined the French War in South India .
Dupleix was recalled to France is disgrace.
• Third Carnatic War (1756-63)
• A Decisive war , known as the Battle of
Wandiwash (1760-61)
• The French got defeated by the English.
• By the “ Treaty of Paris (1763)”, the French
were allowed to use Indian settlements for
trading purposes but fortification of these
settlements was prohibited.
