Part II The Portuguese and The Dutch The English and The French East India Companies Their Struggle For Supremacy Carnatic Wars
Part II The Portuguese and The Dutch The English and The French East India Companies Their Struggle For Supremacy Carnatic Wars
the English Company’s trade in India. Thus the English were rid of two arch-rivals
in India
in India.
The English Company’s position was improved by the ‘Golden Farman’ issued to them
by the Sultan of Golconda in 1632.
On a payment of 500 pagodas a year, they earned the privilege of trading freely in
the ports of Golconda.
A member of the Masulipatnam council, the British merchant Francis Day, in 1639
received from the ruler of Chandragiri permission to build a fortified factory at Madras
which later became the Fort St. George and replaced Masulipatnam as the
headquarters of the English settlements in south India.
Foothold in Bengal:
Bengal was then a large and rich province in India, advanced in trade and commerce.
Commercial and political control over Bengal naturally appeared an attractive
proposition to the profit-seeking English merchants. Bengal was also an important
province of the Mughal empire.
Shah Shuja, the subahdar of Bengal in 1651, allowed the English to trade in Bengal in
return for an annual payment of Rs 3,000, in lieu of all duties.
Factories in Bengal were started at Hooghly (1651) and other places like Kasimbazar,
Patna and Rajmahal.
Nevertheless, despite the privileges of the farmans, the Company’s business was now
and then obstructed by customs officers in the local checkposts who asked for
payment of tolls. In pursuance of its changed policy, the Company wanted to have a
fortified settlement at Hooghly so that force could be used if necessary.
William Hedges, the first agent and governor of the Company in Bengal, appealed to
Shayista Khan, the Mughal governor of Bengal in August 1682, for redressal of the
grievance. As nothing came out of the appeal, hostilities broke out between the
English and the Mughals.
Four years later, Hooghly was sacked by the imperial Mughals in October 1686. The
English retaliated by capturing the imperial forts at Thana (modern Garden Reach),
raiding Hijli in east Midnapur and storming the Mughal fortifications at Balasore.
However, the English were forced to leave Hooghly and were sent to an unhealthy
location at the mouth of the River Ganga.
After the Mughal raid on Hooghly, Job Charnock, a company agent, started
negotiations with the Mughals so as to return to a place called Sutanuti. Charnock
signed a treaty with the Mughals in February 1690, and returned to Sutanuti in August
1690.
Thus, an English factory was established on February 10, 1691, the day an imperial
farman was issued permitting the English to “continue contentedly their trade in
Bengal” on payment of Rs 3000 a year in lieu of all dues.
A zamindar in Bardhaman district, Sobha Singh, rebelled, subsequently giving the
English the pretext they were looking for, to fortify their settlement at Sutanuti in 1696.
In 1698, the English succeeded in getting the permission to buy the zamindari of the
three villages of Sutanuti Gobindapur and Kalikata (Kalighat) from their owners on
three villages of Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata (Kalighat) from their owners on
payment of Rs 1,200.
The fortified settlement was named Fort William in the year 1700 when it also
became the seat of the eastern presidency (Calcutta) with Sir Charles Eyre as its
first president.
Farrukhsiyar’s Farmans
In 1717, an English mission led by John Surman to the court of the Mughal emperor
Farrukhsiyar secured three famous farmans, giving the Company many valuable
privileges in Bengal, Gujarat and Hyderabad. The farmans thus obtained were
regarded the Magna Carta of the Company. Their important terms were:
In Bengal, the Company’s imports and exports were exempted from additional
customs duties excepting the annual payment of 3,000 rupees as settled earlier.
The Company was permitted to issue dastaks (passes) for the transportation of
such goods.
The Company was permitted to rent more lands around Calcutta.
In Hyderabad, the Company retained its existing privilege of freedom from duties
in trade and had to pay the prevailing rent only for Madras.
In Surat, for an annual payment of 10,000 rupees, the East India Company was
exempted from the levy of all duties.
It was decreed that the coins of the Company minted at Bombay were to have
currency throughout the Mughal empire.
Apparently, the English East India Company managed to earn a number of trading
concessions in Bengal from the Mughal authority by means of flattery and diplomacy.
But the English had to vanquish the French before they could be rid of competitors and
establish their complete sway over India.
In 1673, the French obtained permission from Shaista Khan, the Mughal Subahdar of Bengal, to
establish a township at Chandernagore near Calcutta
establish a township at Chandernagore near Calcutta.
Pondicherry—Nerve Centre of French Power in India:
In 1673, Sher Khan Lodi, the governor of Valikondapuram (under the Bijapur Sultan),
granted the French, a site for a settlement. Pondicherry was founded in 1674.
The French company established its factories in other parts of India also, particularly in the
coastal regions. Mahe, Karaikal, Balasore and Qasim Bazar were a few important trading
centres of the French East India Company.
After taking charge of Pondicherry in 1674, Francois Martin developed it as a place of
importance. It was indeed, the stronghold of the French in India.
Early Setbacks to the French East India Company:
The French position in India was badly affected with the outbreak of war between the
Dutch and the French.
Bolstered by their alliance with the English since the Revolution of 1688, the Dutch
captured Pondicherry in 1693. Although the Treaty of Ryswick concluded in September
1697 restored Pondicherry to the French.
Once again, under Francois Martin’s able guidance Pondicherry flourished and turned
out to be the most important settlement of the French in India.
Again there was a bad turn in the fortunes of the French company in India when the War of
Spanish Succession broke out in Europe.
Consequent to this, they had to abandon their factories at Surat, Masulipatnam and
Bantam in the early 18th century.
The French in India had another setback when Francois Martin died on December 31, 1706.
Reorganisation of the French Company
In 1720, the French company was reorganised as the ‘Perpetual Company of the Indies’
which revived its strength.
Further, the French India was backed by the French possession of Mauritius and Reunion in
the southern Indian Ocean.