Spectrum’s

Modern Indian History

III – Advent of Europeans – Part I

First things First
Who came first?

1. Portuguese – 1509
2. Dutch – 1605
3. British – 1609
4. Danes – 1620
5. French - 1664
Why did the Europeans Come?
 Why did the Europeans Come?

Fall of Spirit of New Geographical

Constantinople Renaissance discoveries

Economic
Treaty of
development in
Tordesillas 1494
Europe & trade
 The Portuguese
In 1498, Vasco da Gama of Portugal discovered a new sea route from
Europe to India.

He sailed around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope and reached
Calicut in India

Upon reaching to Calicut, he was welcomed by the Zamorin, the Hindu

ruler of Calicut.

The next year, Vasco returned to Portugal making huge profits from
the Indian cargo that was worth 64 times the cost of his expedition.
 The Portuguese

Vasco Da Gama Pedro Alvarez Cabral Francisco De Almeida Alfonso de

Albuquerque
acquired Goa from
the Sultan of Bijapur
in 1510
 The Portuguese
Goa became the capital of the Portuguese settlements in India after Nino da
Cunha shifted capital from Cochin to Goa.

Under different governors, the Portuguese established their domination

over the entire Asian coast from Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to Malacca in
Malaya and the spice islands in Indonesia. At the time of the death of Afonso
de Albuquerque, the Portuguese were the strongest naval power in India.

In 1530, Nino da Cunha captured Diu and Bassein from Bahadur Shah of
Gujarat.
Portuguese also established settlements at Salsette, Daman and Bombay on
the west coast and at San Thome near Madras and Hugli in Bengal on the east
coast.
 Why the rise of Portuguese?
1. No strong ruler in India
In India, excepting Gujarat, which was ruled by the powerful Mahmud
Begarha (or Begada) from 1458 to 1511, the northern part was much
divided among many small powers. In the Deccan, the Bahmani
Kingdom was breaking up into smaller kingdoms.

2. Lack of Vision of Indian rulers

None of the powers had a navy worth its name, nor did they think of
developing their naval strength. The Portuguese had better ships &
cannons placed on their ships.
3. No stiff competition from Europeans initially.
 Portuguese Administration
Many of the coastal parts of India had come under Portuguese power
within fifty years of Vasco da Gama’s arrival.

The Portuguese had occupied some sixty miles off coast around Goa.
On the west coast from Mumbai to Daman and Diu to the approaches
to Gujarat, they controlled a narrow tract with many important ports
and hundreds of towns and villages.

In the south, they had under them a chain of seaport fortresses and
trading-posts like Mangalore, Cannanore, Cochin, and Calicut.
 Portuguese Administration
The Portuguese survived for the longest in India. (1961)

They balanced between powers like Vijayanagara, Deccan sultans,

Mughals & Marathas.

The Portuguese mainly focused on trade & profits. Governor was their
head of the administration with his secretary and council.

Vedor da Fazenda was responsible for revenues and the cargoes and
dispatch of fleets.

Portuguese brought with them the same zeal to promote Christianity.

 Decline of Portuguese
The Portuguese power declined in India by the end of the 16th century and they
lost all their acquired territories in India except Daman, Diu and Goa.

But why?

1. The Governors that succeeded Albuquerque were weak.

2. Portuguese were intolerant and fanatical in religious matters.
3. The Portuguese administration was more interested in making fortunes
rather than govern. They were dubbed as “Pirates” everywhere.
4. Portuguese lost favour of Mughals after capturing Mughal ships under
Jehangir
5. Global power shift from Portugal/Spain to British/French/Dutch
6. The Portuguese discovered Brazil in Latin America and began to pay much
more attention to it than its territories in India.
 The Dutch
The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. They setup
their first factory at Masulipatnam in Andhra in 1605.

The Dutch established factories on the Coromandel coast, in Gujarat,

Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, and Bihar. In 1609, they opened a factory in
Pulicat, north of Madras. Their other principal factories in India were
at Surat (1616), Bimlipatam (1641), Karaikal (1645), Chinsura (1653),
Baranagar, Kasimbazar (near Murshidabad), Balasore, Patna,
Nagapatam (1658), and Cochin (1663).
 Decline of Dutch
In the 17th century, they won over the Portuguese and emerged
the most dominant power in European trade in the East. They
dislodged the Portuguese from the Malay straits and the
Indonesian islands.

In 1623 Dutch defeated English attempts to establish themselves

in South East Asia. The Anglo-Dutch rivalry continued for about
seven years during which the Dutch lost their settlements to the
British one by one and finally, the Dutch were defeated by the
English in the Battle of Bedara 1759.
 The Danes
The Danes established their East India Company in 1616.

They formed their first settlement at Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu)

in 1620 CE and later at Serampore (Bengal) in 1676 CE which
became their headquarters.

Danes could not strengthen themselves in India and had to sell

all their settlements in India to the British in 1845.