Colonialism and Nationalism in India

Unit II
Advent of the British
(the 1st 100 years)

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

1600: The English East India Company is established by a royal charter

1608: The Company lands in Surat in August

1611: The Company defeats the Portuguese at Swally/Suvali near Surat

1613: The Company starts formal trading in India and got permission for establishing factories/warehouses in
India from Mughal Emperor Jahangir

1613: 1st factory is established in Surat after receiving Jahangir’s ‘farman’

1617: Sir Thomas Roe is received in Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s court

1625: The Company is denied permission by Mughal Emperor to fortify Surat factory

1639: The Company gains lease of Madras, builds Fort St. George around its Madras factory

1620-1661: The Portuguese gradually lose grounds in India and the Company gains the rights to eastern trade
from them
1668: The Company gets Bombay port from the British King (which he had received as dowry from the
Portuguese in 1661)

1667: The East India Company exchanges with the Dutch claims of trade in India over Indonesia

1670s: The Company got permission from Mughal emperor to do custom-free trade (Dastak) in the Mughal
dominated areas, excluding Bengal

1680s: Auranzeb seized a number of Company’s factories but were regained after payment

1690: Aurangzeb grants farman to do duty-free trade in Bengal (in return for annual payment of Rs.3000/-)

1690: The city of Calcutta was founded

1696: Calcutta was fortified, Fort William was built

1698: The Company got zamindari right of revenue collection in three Bengal villages, Sutanuti, Kalikata and
Gobindapur

By end of the Century the Bombay, Madras and Calcutta emerged as 3 major centers of the Company’s activities
Battle of Swally 1611/1612 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Swally)
English politician and diplomat Sir Thomas Roe MP (1581-1644) being received by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1616/1617
https://scroll.in/article/940653/400-years-ago-englands-first-ambassador-to-india-returned-home-with-eye-opening-experiences.
 Relationship between the Crown and the Company
• Analyses vary on the role of the ‘metropole’ and the ‘periphery’
• The concepts of ‘sub-imperialism’ (Gallagher and Robinson 1961) and ‘state imperialism by
proxy’ (Lawson 1993) are significant
• Metropole refers to the Crown/London and the ‘periphery’ is the political-economic context in
India
• Mutually beneficial but the two were apparently separated
• The Crown chartered the Company in 1600 and gave it monopoly right of trading in the East
• There was no overt mandate to colonize or conquest
• But the very nature of the Company’s trade being ‘armed trade’ is striking and defining
• The Company’s army at one point was twice the size of the British army
• The naval power exhibited by the Company from the very beginning prevented Indian rulers
from undermining English trade in local markets
• The Company followed a very aggressive military policy after falling out with Aurangzeb in
1680s
• It resonated with the Crown’s equally aggressive imperial policy around the globe
• And in return was extending the Crown’s diplomatic goals in the East
• 1668: Bombay port was handed over to the Company by King Charles II
 Relationship between the Crown and the Company (contd.)
• 1660s and 1670s: the Company extended massive loans to the Crown; to be reciprocated with more
privileges that helped them develop Bombay Presidency and Madras Presidency and (later Calcutta
Presidency in 18th century)
• The Crown overtly aided in the development and defence of the Presidencies by broadening the
Charters
• The Company enjoyed these privileges owing to the Crown, particularly of the Stuarts
• Stuart kings followed aggressive commercial policy abroad to secure wealth and independence for the
Crown
• The Company faced severe crisis when the Whigs replaced the Stuarts in 1689
• The East India Company’s monopoly rights were curtailed and a new company entered in the picture
• Rivalry over trade in the East rocked the Parliament and the Crown
• The state took more interest in stabilizing trade rights for the entailing benefits that would flow in; the
two companies were merged in 1709
• The Company, in early 18th century became a clear harbinger of financial and diplomatic power for the
state
• Thus began a self-confident territorial expansion in India by the Company as a proxy for imperial
expansion
• Financial gains of the Company and imperial gains of the British state became integrally connected.