European Penetration into India: The Early European

Settlements; The Portuguese and the Dutch; The

English and the French East India Companies; Their
struggle for supremacy; Carnatic Wars: Part II
The Dutch in India
Commercial enterprise led the Dutch to undertake voyages to the East.
In 1602, the States General of the Netherlands amalgamated many trading companies into the
East India Company of the Netherlands. This company was also empowered to carry on war, to
conclude treaties, to take possession of territory and to erect fortresses.
After their arrival in India, the Dutch founded their first factory in Masulipatnam (in Andhra) in
1605. They went on to establish trading centres at different parts of India and thus became a
threat to the Portuguese.
They captured Nagapatam near Madras (Chennai) from the Portuguese and made it their
main stronghold in South India.
They carried indigo manufactured in the Yamuna valley and Central India, textiles and silk from
Bengal, Gujarat and the Coromandel, saltpetre from Bihar and opium and rice from the Ganga
valley.
Anglo-Dutch Rivalry:
The English were also at this time rising to prominence in the Eastern trade, and this posed
a serious challenge to the commercial interests of the Dutch. Commercial rivalry soon
turned into bloody warfare.
The climax of the enmity between the Dutch and the English in the East was reached at
Amboyna (a place in present-day Indonesia, which the Dutch had captured from the
Portuguese in 1605) where they massacred ten Englishmen and nine Japanese in 1623.
This incident further intensified the rivalry between the two European companies. After
prolonged warfare, both the parties came to a compromise in 1667 by which the British
agreed to withdraw all their claims on Indonesia, and the Dutch retired from India to
concentrate on their more profitable trade in Indonesia.
Decline of the Dutch in India
The Dutch got drawn into the trade of the Malay Archipelago.
The Battle of Bedara (November 1759) was fought between the British Army and the
Dutch Army. In this battle, the latter force was decisively defeated by the British forces.
The Dutch were not much interested in empire building in India; their concerns were trade.
In any case, their main commercial interest lay in the Spice Islands of Indonesia from
where they earned a huge profit through business.

The English and the French East India Companies

The English in India
The English in India:

Charter of Queen Elizabeth I

Francis Drake’s voyage around the world in 1580 and the English victory over the Spanish
Armada in 1588 generated a new sense of enterprise in the British, encouraging sailors to
venture out to the East. As the knowledge grew of the high profits earned by the Portuguese
in Eastern trade, English traders too wanted a share. So in 1599, a group of English
merchants calling themselves the ‘Merchant Adventurers’ formed a company.
On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter with rights of exclusive trading to
the company named the ‘Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the
East Indies’. Initially, a monopoly of fifteen years was granted, which in May 1609 was
extended indefinitely by a fresh charter.
As the Dutch were already concentrating more on the East Indies, the English turned to
India in search of textiles and other commodities of trade.
Progress of the English Company:
Foothold in West and South:
Captain Hawkins arrived in the court of Jahangir in April 1609 itself. But the mission to
establish a factory at Surat didn’t succeed due to opposition from the Portuguese, and
Hawkins left Agra in November 1611.
In 1611, the English had started trading at Masulipatnam on the south-eastern
coast of India and later established a factory there in 1616.
It was in 1612 that Captain Thomas Best defeated the Portuguese in the sea off Surat;
an impressed Jahangir granted permission to the English in early 1613 to establish a
factory at Surat.
In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe came as an accredited ambassador of James I to the court of
Jahangir, staying on there till February 1619.
Though he was unsuccessful in concluding a commercial treaty with the Mughal
emperor, he was able to secure a number of privileges, including permission to
set up factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach.
The English company did not have a smooth progress. It had to contend with the
Portuguese and the Dutch in the beginning. But the changing situation helped them
and turned things in their favour.
Bombay had been gifted to King Charles II by the King of Portugal as dowry when
Charles married the Portuguese princess Catherine in 1662.
Bombay was given over to the East India Company on an annual payment of ten
pounds only in 1668. Later Bombay was made the headquarters by shifting the
seat of the Western Presidency from Surat to Bombay in 1687.
So there was tacit peace between the English and the Portuguese now. There was
also an Anglo-Dutch compromise by which the Dutch agreed not to interfere with

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.

The French in India

The French were the last Europeans to come to India with the purpose of trade.
During the reign of Louis XIV, the king’s famous minister Colbert laid the foundation of the
Compagnie des Indes Orientales (French East India Company) in 1664, in which the king
also took a deep interest.
The Company was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific
Oceans. The French king also granted the company a concession in perpetuity for the island of
Madagascar, as well as any other territories it could conquer.
The Company spent a lot of its money and resources in trying to revive the colonies of
Madagascar but without any success. Then in 1667, Francois Caron headed an expedition to
India, setting up a factory in Surat.
Mercara, a Persian who accompanied Caron, founded another French factory in Masulipatnam
in 1669 after obtaining a patent from the Sultan of Golconda.

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.