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Charter
who recieved: The East India Company
From whom: Queen Elizabeth 1
Granting: Sole right to trade with the east With this charter:
the Company could venture across the oceans, looking
for new lands where Mercantile trade could be used. Trading in India was beneficial for the EIC because products like cotton, silk and spices were largely available and had great qualities in India, however, were greatly demanded in England and were of great econimic value. -
Base of the first English factory: river HUGLI
This factory was the base from which the Company's traders operated. It also had a warehouse where exportable goods were stored and offices where Company officials sat. As trade expanded, EIC was able to persuade other merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. -
Fortifications; first ever fort made by EIC in India
The EIC began building a fort near the settlements. The Fort William, was built in the year 1696 by the British East India Company under the orders of Sir John Goldsborough and took a decade to complete. -
The EIC receives Zamindari rights over 3 villages in Bengal
The Company bribed the Mughal Rulers into giving them Zamindari rights over three villages; One of them being Kalikata, modern day Calcutta or Bengal. They also persuaded the mughal emperor Aurangzeb into giving then a Farman for duty-free trade. -
Battle of Plassey : PART 1
After Alivardi Khan's death in 1756, the EIC was keen on having a puppet ruler who would easily grant them concessions. However, when they realized that Siraj-ud-Daulah wasn't a puppet ruler, they went to his enemy to help him become the Nawab of Bengal. When Siraj-ud-Daulah came to know of these affairs, he was infuriated and told the company to stop meddling in political matters immediately. Bibliography: Book + Comic -
Battle of Plassey : PART 2
After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000 soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company officials,
locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded English ships. Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the Company’s fort there. Bibliography: Book + Comic -
Battle of Plassey : PART 3
On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Company officials in Madras sent forces under the command of Robert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets. Prolonged negotiations with the Nawab followed. Finally, in 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. Bibliography: Book + Comic -
Battle of Plassey : PART 4
One of the main reasons the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle. Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing Sirajuddaulah. Bibliography: Book + Comic -
How the Battle of Plassey became a turning point in Indian History!!
The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first
major victory the Company won in India. Not only that, it was the beginning of corruption and the beginning of colonial rule in India as the British now believed that they are capable of ruling in India . -
Mir Jafar: Nawab of Bengal and assassination of a great ruler.....
After the defeat of Sirajuddaulah at Plassey, Siraj-ud-Daulah was
assassinated on 2nd July, 1757 and Mir Jafar was made the nawab on the 3rd. -
Mir Qasim: A new puppet arrises + the protest of Mir Jafar
When Mir Jafar protested, the Company deposed him and installed Mir Qasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained, he in turn was defeated in a battle fought at Buxar (1764),
driven out of Bengal, and Mir Jafar was reinstated. -
The battle of BUXAR
The Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764, between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, Nawab of Bengal till 1763; the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. The battle was fought at Buxar, a "small fortified town" within the territory of Bihar, located on the banks of the Ganga river about 130 kilometres west of Patna; it was a decisive victory for the British East India Company. -
Annexation of India
After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the EIC employed Indian 'Residents' in the different states. These residents were commercial agents and helped to further the interests of the company. Occasionally, they also were intermediaries for the EIC to interfere in political affairs. -
Annexation of India (Subsidiary Alliance) (AWADH)
Sometimes the Company forced the states into a “subsidiary alliance”. This meant Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the Company, but were obliged to pay for the “subsidiary forces” that the Company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away as penalty. source: book -
The EIC become "self employed" 'nabobs' : part 1
The puppet Nawab had to pay Rs 500,000 every month but the
Company wanted more money to finance its wars, and
meet the demands of trade and its other expenses. It
wanted more territories and more revenue. By the time
Mir Jafar died in 1765 the mood of the Company had
changed. Having failed to work with puppet nawabs, Clive
declared: “We must indeed become nawabs ourselves.” source: book -
The EIC become "self employed" 'nabobs' : part 2
Finally, in 1765 the Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. The Diwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources of Bengal. Now revenues from India could finance Company expenses. These revenues could be used to purchase cotton and silk textiles in India, maintain Company troops, and meet the cost of building the Company fort and offices at Calcutta. For a vast conclusion we can say that it was a huge benefit for the company. -
Robert Clive and the unexpected suicide
Robert Clive did own a fortune in India. He had come to
Madras from England in 1743 at the age of 18. When in 1767 he left India his Indian fortune was worth £401,102. Interestingly, when he was appointed Governor of Bengal in 1764, he was asked to
remove corruption in Company administration but he
was himself cross-examined in 1772 by the British
Parliament which was suspicious of his vast wealth.
He later committed suicide in 1774 which then was a problem for EIC. RIP.... Clive...... -
Annexation of India (again!!) this time the MARATHAS..
From the late eighteenth century the Company also
sought to curb and destroy Maratha power. They were divided into many states under different chiefs (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were held together in a confederacy under a Peshwa who became its effective military and administrative head based in Pune. as studied in grade 7. -
Annexation of India (Military Confrontation)
When the company saw a direct threat to its economic or political interests, it resorted to military confrontation. Mysore had grown stronger under leaders like Haidar Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan. Mysore controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast where the Company purchased pepper and cardamom. In 1785 Tipu Sultan stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom, and forbade merchants from trading with the EIC. source: book -
Annexation of India (iii) (Military Confrontation) ( Cont.)
They saw Haidar and Tipu
as ambitious, arrogant and dangerous – rulers who had
to be controlled and crushed. Four wars were fought
with Mysore (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799).
Only in the last – the Battle of Seringapatam – did the
Company ultimately win. Tipu Sultan was
killed defending his capital Seringapatam, Mysore was
placed under the former ruling dynasty of the Wodeyars
and a subsidiary alliance was imposed on the state. His TIGER statue was also taken. -
Annexation of India (Wars with the Marathas)
The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars.
1) this ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor.
2) This war (1803-05)was fought on different fronts,resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna river including Agra and Delhi.
3) War of 1817-19 crushed Maratha power. The Peshwa was removed and sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension. The Company now had complete control over the territories south of the Vindhyas. Source: bing -
Paramountcy
Under Lord Hastings (Governor- General from 1813 to 1823) a new policy of “paramountcy” was initiated. Now the Company claimed that its authority was paramount or supreme, hence its power was greater than that of Indian states. In order to protect its interests
it was justified in annexing or threatening to annex any Indian kingdom. Explained by ANANYA. -
Annexation of India (Punjab) {TOO MUCH ANNEXATION}
In late 1830s the East India Company became worried about Russia. It thought that Russia might expand across Asia and enter India. The British now wanted to secure their control over the area. They fought a war with Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842 and established Company rule there. Sind was taken over in 1843. But the presence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh held back the Company. After his death in 1839, 2 wars were fought with the Sikh kingdom.
In 1849, Punjab was annexed. Explained by ANANYA. -
The Doctrine of Lapse
The final annexations occurred under Lord Dalhousie who was the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. He devised a policy that came to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse. The doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his kingdom would “lapse”, that is, automatically be considered as Company territory. Some example according to this doctrine were: Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854). source : book -
Annexation of Awadh
Finally, in 1856, the British took over Awadh. They claimed that they were 'obliged by duty' to do so to free the people from 'misgovernment'. The people were enraged due to the humiliation and in the way their Nawab was deposed and joined the great revolt also known as the 'Sepoy Mutiny' that broke out in 1857. -
Military Reform
Colonial rule in India brought in some new ideas of administration and reform but its power rested on its military strength. A change occurred in the eighteenth century when Mughal successor states like Awadh and Benaras started recruiting peasants into their armies and training them as professional soldiers. The East India Company adopted the same method when it began recruitment for its own army, which came to be known as the sepoy army. book. eg- sepoys in the battle of Saragirhi -
Military Reform (cont.)
As warfare technology changed from the 1820s, the
cavalry requirements of the Company’s army declined.
This is because the British empire was fighting in
Burma, Afghanistan and Egypt where soldiers were
armed with muskets and matchlocks. The soldiers of
the Company’s army had to keep pace with changing
military requirements and its infantry regiments
became more important. -
Military Reform
In the early nineteenth century the British began
to develop a uniform military culture. Soldiers were
increasingly subjected to European-style training, drill
and discipline that regulated their life far more than
before. -
Setting up a New Administration
Under the Regulating Act of 1773, a new Supreme Court was
established, while a court of appeal was also set up at kolkata. The principal figure in an Indian district was the Collector. As the title suggests, his main job was to collect revenue and taxes and maintain law and order in his district with the help of judges, police officers and darogas. His office ,the Collectorate – became the new centre of power and patronage that steadily replaced previous holders of authority.
Explained by ANANYA -
Trade to Territory: A Retrospect
Thus, The EIC became a territorial colonial power from a trading company. By 1857, the British exercised direct rule over 60 percent of the territory and 70 percent of the population of the Indian Subcontinent. Combined with its indirect influence on the rest of the territory and population, it figuratively controlled the entire subcontinent. -
Period: to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GOOGLE, BING, WIKIPEDIA (PICTURES), TEXTBOOK
