East India Company comes East

The Company Establishes Power: Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He established control over a very large part of the territory that is now known as India. After his death in 1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and big zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing regional kingdoms. By the second half of the eighteenth century, however, a new power was emerging on the political horizon – the British.

East India Company Comes East: The history of the world has not witnessed a more amazing story that that of establishment of the British Empire in India.It was not the result of a deliberate effort but a series of episodes that finally led to political dominance of India by the East India company.

The east India company set up trading posts in Surat and the three presidency settlements at Fort William in Bengal , Fort st.George in Madras and the Bombay castle.They established friendly relations with the local princes to further their profits. The Indian princes became mere puppets in the hands of the English. They signed alliances to secure the help of the English military to settle their internal rivalries.

The East India Company enjoyed a privileged positions with the English government and was granted special rights like Trade monopolies and Tax exemptions causing resentment among its competitors.

The East India Company became an imperial power to protect its trading interests from other European traders . It began as a trading company , took over political control and became the ruler of entire India. The aim of the company was to gain monopoly of the entire trade in the East.The company came into conflict with other foreign traders and hence,built up its own military and administrative departments.

It became such a strong force that it took over the governance of Bengal , Madras and Bombay . Gradually , the trading company transformed into an auxiliary power that ended only in 1858.

Between the 7th and 14th centuries, Arab leaders dominated the trade between the East and the West. They took spices, textiles, sugar, indigo and saltpeter (used for making gun power) from India by sea port.

By the time the first English ships sailed down the west coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope, and crossed the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had already established their presence in the western coast of India, and had their base in Goa.

·      In fact, it was Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, who had discovered this sea route to India in 1498. By the early seventeenth century, the Dutch too were exploring the possibilities of trade in the Indian Ocean.

·      Soon the French traders arrived on the scene. The rival European countries soon realized the enormous potential for wealth that lay in trade with India. Individual traders joined to form trading companies, which were supported by their respective government. Their efforts to control trade with India led to increasingly bitter trade wars between the Dutch, the British, the Portuguese and the French.

·      The problem was that all the companies were interested in buying the same things. The fine qualities of cotton and silk produced in India had a big market in Europe. Pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon too were in great demand.

·      The only way the trading companies could flourish was by eliminating rival competitors. The urge to secure markets therefore led to fierce battles between the trading companies. Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they regularly sank each other’s ships, blockaded routes, and prevented rival ships from moving the supplies of goods.

Trade was carried on with arms and trading posts were protected through fortification. This effort to fortify settlements and carry on profitable trade also led to intense conflict with local rulers. The company therefore found it difficult to separate trade from politics. The captains of the ships sought out suitable places and asked for permission to trade from local rulers. If the trade proved profitable, the captains set up trading ports called Factories. In the more successful areas, groups of factories developed, which were known as settlements. Some of these settlements developed into centers to which other factories in the region reported and came to be called presidencies.

East India Company House ,London