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The
History of India: Coming of the
Europeans
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Coming
of the Europeans
The period spanning a hundred and fifty years, between the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in
1707 AD, and the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 witnessed the gradual
increase of the European influence in India. This was the time when the Europeans
actually got involved in trade and commerce. Prior to this period, Europeans
did arrive in India from time to time but these were no more than isolated incidents.
All historians agree that the Portuguese explorer and adventurer Vasco
da Gama was the first known European to reach India in 1498. It is believed
that Gama had landed at Calicut (modern Kerala) in quest of
spices and the famous Calico (fine cotton) cloth. The other
Portuguese nationals who accompanied him were motivated by either missionary
zeal or trading prospects.
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Vasco
da Gama |
Advent
of the Portuguese
The Portuguese eventually settled down to a very prosperous
trade in spices with India. The Muslim rulers (including the Mughals) were averse
to the idea of a foreign power carrying on commercial activities on the high
seas bordering India. In Goa, which had become a Portuguese bastion
there were reports of religious intolerance, forced conversions, devastation
of Hindu temples and so forth.
However Alphonse de Albuquerque (1509-1515), who was the second
Portuguese governor in India, encouraged mixed marriages of the Portuguese with
the local people, probably imbued with the idea of creating a mixed race of Catholics,
who would be racially and culturally linked to Portugal. The invasion of Portugal
by Spain in 1580 arrested the further expansion of Portuguese influence.
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A canon at Cabo
fort, Goa,
a former Portuguese
enclave
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Advent of the French
Although the erstwhile French ruler Louis XII had granted letters of monopoly
to French traders as early as 1611, it was only in 1667 that a French company
was set up at Surat (Gujarat) with Francis Caron as its
Director-General. In 1669, another French company was set up in Masulipatnam (Andhra
Pradesh), after the then king of Golconda, exempted the French from paying
import and export duty. In 1672, Caron was succeeded by Francis
Martin, who is regarded as the real founder of the French colonialism
in India.
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 French
Colonial style
edifice in Chandannagar |
Chandannagar was
established as a French colony in 1673, when
the French obtained permission from the Nawab of Bengal, Ibrahim
Khan, to establish a trading post
on the right bank of the Hooghly river.
It became a permanent French settlement in
1688, and in 1730, Joseph François
Dupleix was
appointed governor of the city. During his
administration numerous brick houses were erected
in the town
and a fairly large degree of maritime trade
was carried on.
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In
1756, war broke out between France and Great
Britain, and
Colonel Robert Clive of the British
East India Company and Admiral
Watson of the British Navy bombarded
and captured Chandannagar (a.k.a
Chandernagore) in March 1757. The town's fortifications
and many houses were demolished thereafter,
and Chandannagar's importance
as a commercial center was eclipsed. Chandannagar was
restored to the French in 1763, but retaken
by the British in 1794 during the Napoleonic
Wars. The city was returned to France in 1816.
It was governed as part of French India, under
a
governor-general in Pondicherry until
1950.
(click here) The
French in Pondicherry |
Robert
Clive |
Advent
of the Dutch
The Dutch did not come to India at the same time as their other European compatriots.
As a matter of fact they established a station for spice trade in Jakarta,
Indonesia.
India
was
merely
a port of call on their trade route to Europe, which also passed Ceylon( Sri
Lanka) and Cape Town (South Africa). Gradually however, the Dutch set up factories
and settlements in Cochin (Kerala), Bheemunipatnam (Andhra
Pradesh) and Nagapatnam (Tamilnadu) but they did not attempt
to gain military power. Interestingly Chinsurah a petty town
of Bengal located along the Hooghly river,
was a Dutch settlement from 1656 to 1825. It was later exchanged by the Dutch
for the British-held Indonesian island of Sumatra in 1825. Mention must be
made of a second Dutch colony at Baranagore, near Calcutta,
which was mainly a port and loading dock for Dutch ships.
Advent of the Armenians
Before Chinsurah became a Dutch colony, it was already home
to Calcutta's oldest expatriate community. The Armenians arrived
(from their original homeland Armenia ,located in south-western Asia,eastof
Turkey) and settled here in the 16thcentury. Their interests, however, were
more local than their Dutch counterparts. They
settled permanently in Chinsurah as traders,
unlike the Dutch who remained
predominantly sailors. The Armenians funded the British
East India Company to develop the city of Calcutta.They subsequently
moved to Calcutta and still have a strong presence here.
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Tombs
at Bheemunipatnam |
Advent
of the Danes
The Danish East India Company established a colony called Fredericknagore,
in honor of their ruler King Frederick the Vth near Serampore, West
Bengal in 1699. Occupied twice by the English during their war with
Denmark, Fredericknagore failed as a commercial venture. In
1777, after the Danish company went bankrupt, Serampore became
a Danish crown colony. However, Serampore's commercial failure was compensated
by its immense success on the cultural front. Since the British banned missionary
activities in their territories, Serampore became a safe haven for missionaries
in India.
In 1799, Reverend
William Carey and two fellow Baptist
missionaries established the first
printing press in Asia, in Serampore to print
copies of the Bible. In 1819, Carey established
the Serampore College, the
first institution to impart western style
higher education in Asia. In 1827, a Royal
Charter by the King of Denmark declared it
as a university at par with those in Copenhagen and Kiel. In
1845, Denmark ceded Serampore to
Britain, thereby ending the nearly 150 years
of Danish presence in Bengal.
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Serampore
College,
Serampore
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Advent
of the British
The English traders formed their East India Company on December
31,1600 and entered the Asian region along with the Dutch. Their common foes – the
Portuguese and the Spaniards – brought them closer. However, soon the
English realized that the Dutch were not willing to share their holdings in
the East
Indies
with them. This realization made the British turn to India as an alternative
because spices were plentiful in India, where the Dutch had not so strong
a presence. Inspite of skirmishes with the Portuguese, they were able to gain
a foothold in India.
In the year 1612, the Mughal
emperor Jahangir received Sir
Thomas Roe, the first ambassador of
Britain to India.Roe’s diplomacy
with the Mughals was so successful
that by a treaty in 1618 the East India
Company became their naval aide. By
1674, the city of Bombay comprising seven islands
was handed over to the British as part of the
dowry of given to the Portuguese princess Catherine
de Braganza, who married Charles
II of Britain.
The naive Indians could not
perceive the strategic threat posed by the
East India Company. Right from the beginning
The British followed a policy of divide and
rule. Through diplomacy and deceit they gained
control of revenue collection in the province
of Bengal. This indirectly gave them effective
control of administration too. The Marathas,
the Sikhs and the rulers of Mysore could
never unite to confront the formidable foreign
adversary and succumbed to their machinations
and intrigues.
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Jahangir |
After Aurangzeb’s demise
the decline of the Mughal empire went on a
tailspin. Powerful nobility ruled the day at
the Mughal court, poetry and wine flowed freely;
the hours were whiled away in watching performances
of nautch (dancing) girls; clearly it was that
twilight hour of a grand empire;
A death blow was dealt to
an already tottering empire by the invasion
of Delhi by the famous Persian king Nadir
Shah in 1739. At this time one of
the best Mughal generals, Nizam-ul-Mulk was
busy fighting the Marathas.
The Khooni Darwaza (The gateway of blood),
the ruins of which still stand in Delhi was
the site of the genocide, masterminded by Nadir
Shah. The invader departed after 57
days, having ransacked the royal treasury,
and carrying away with him two fabulous and
precious objects - the Peacock Throne and
the Kohinoor diamond.
After this incident the richness and splendour
of the Mughals was eclipsed for ever.
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Aurangzeb
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Afghan Invasion
The next to invade Delhi were the Afghans,
under the leadership of Ahmad
Shah Abdali,
an ex-general of Nadir Shah.
He led as many as seven invasions into
India between
the years 1748 and 1767. After the havoc
caused by Nadir Shah, it was an extremely
easy task for Abdali to
ransack Lahore, Punjab and even Delhi
once more. It was
left to the Marathas, who wielded
considerable power, to confront Abdali.
The Marathas clashed
with Abdali and
his forces in the Third battle
of Panipat on
January 13, 1761, which ended in the
defeat of the Marathas.
Abdali returned in 1764, driven by a lust
for riches and gold. His previous invasion
had the Sikhs (who had by then carved out
a kingdom under the famous Maharaja
Ranjit Singh) up in arms. When Abdali invaded
India for the last time in 1767, the Sikhs
managed to defeat him and gain control
over Lahore and Central Punjab. |
Nadir Shah
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::Ancient
India:: |
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::Medival
India:: |
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::Modern
India:: |
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Coming
of Europeans |
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