History Chapter 3: India and European Colonialism PDF

## 3. India and European Colonialism ### 3.1 Portuguese - Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese seafarer, reached the port of Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498. - The Portuguese established themselves in India by the beginning of the 16th century. - They brought a considerable portion of the Indian coasts under t...

## 3. India and European Colonialism ### 3.1 Portuguese - Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese seafarer, reached the port of Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498. - The Portuguese established themselves in India by the beginning of the 16th century. - They brought a considerable portion of the Indian coasts under their control. - The Portuguese took advantage of strained relations among various rulers in South India. - They established their colonies on the western coast and built forts for their protection. - They used forts to protect their colonies from external attacks and to reinforce them continuously with supplies by using seaways. - The Portuguese naval force was very strong. - They launched sudden attacks on their enemy's territory from the sea and wrecked it completely. - Indian local rulers could not match the Portuguese in their war tactics. - When they established firm control on the Indian Ocean, they made it obligatory for Indian rulers to get a license (Cartaz) from them for sailing on the Indian Ocean. - If the local rulers dared to set out on the sea without a Portuguese license, their ships were either seized or sunk by force. - The Portuguese had become so powerful that even the mighty Mughals and the Sultanates in the south had to buy a license from them. - By 1608 the Portuguese had their colonies on the western coast of India at: - Diu - Daman - Chaul - Goa (including Sashti and Bardesh) - Honnavar - Gangoli - Basrur - Mangalore - Kannur - Kodungallur - Cochi - Kollam - On the eastern coast they had trader colonies at: - Nagpattinam - Mylapore (Mayilappore or also Sao Tome/San Thom) - Hugli in Bengal - The stretch of the Portuguese Empire had its capital at Goa. ### 3.2 British - The British established the “East India Company” on 31st December 1600. - Queen Elizabeth granted permission to the company to trade in the eastern countries. - In the beginning the East India Company’s operations were limited to: - Send their cargos to the eastern countries - Sell British goods in those countries - Buy spices with the profits earned there - Sell the spices in England and earn profits - The sailboats of those days needed to plan their forward and backward voyages in specific periods of the year. - Under these circumstances, trading transactions were tedious. - The British were in need of a permanent place to build warehouses to store the goods bought at low prices. - British boats used to sail from England during the months of December to April. - They returned to England after an year in the month of January after completing trading transactions in India. - This required them to stay in India over a period of 9-13 months. - The company decided to build their 'factories' (emporiums — a place where goods are bought, stored and sold) in India. - The staff of the factories were called 'factors’. - In 1623 the British government, under the civil and military law, granted the company an authority of adopting punitive measures for the erring staff. - The company was also given the right of monopoly to trade in the eastern countries. - Charles II, the king of England, issued a charter allowing the company to build forts in India, to maintain an army and to make treaties with non-Christians. - The Vice-rei was the presiding head of the administrative setup. - In the earlier half of the 17th century, five ships used to arrive every year in the Indian ports. - These ships were equipped with canons. - The Portuguese had shipbuilding facilities at Goa, Diu and Daman. - Durable teakwood of best quality, essential for building ships, was available in these regions. - The Portuguese used to deploy seamen from Portugal to India. - In those times, Indian rulers did not maintain a naval force. - Indian rulers found it difficult to fight the strong naval forces of the Portuguese. - An exception was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who had built his own navy. - The Dutch and the British defeated the Portuguese naval forces in the 17th century in sea-battles. - The Portuguese prohibited building of any religions monuments except churches in the Indian provinces under their rule. - They also prohibited celebrations of religious festivals or wedding functions. - The Portuguese rulers also tried to suppress the local languages. - People were offered employment with the intention to attract them to Christianity. - In the beginning of their rule they made Goa a free port, which resulted in attracting traders from various countries to Goa. ### 3.3 Dutch - In 1602, several Dutch companies came together to form a company, named ‘United East India’. - The Dutch government issued a license to the company to conduct trading with the eastern countries. - The same license permitted them to appoint staff, to establish factories, to build forts, to engage in battles against the eastern countries and to sign treaties with them. - The company appointed a Governor-General to take care of Indian affairs. - By the middle of the 17th century, the company had established Dutch colonies and factories right from the eastern coast of Africa to Japan. - It encompassed present-day regions of Mozambique, South Africa, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Siam, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, China, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. - The Dutch built various buildings in the premises of their factories and also fortification walls around them. - They installed cannons on the fortification walls for security. - The Dutch also had native people in their staff. - They established their first factory in 1602 at Petapuli in the northern parts of Coromandel coast. - Their other factories were built in Machilipatnam, Pulicat, Thirupapuliyur, Port Nova, Karikal, Agra, Ahemdabad, Bharuch, Chinsura, Thatta, Khambayat, Surat and Nagapattan. - They obtained permission from the Vijaynagara court and built forts in Pulicat and Nagapattan. - Later, they defeated the Portuguese and acquired the forts at Kochi, Kodunglur, Kannur and Kollam. - They also obtained monopoly in black pepper trade by entering a treaty with the king of Kochi. - At the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch naval force was very strong. - They could deploy, at any given moment, at least 20 war ships and an army of 3-4 thousand soldiers. - The Mughal, Adilshahi and Qutubshahi ships were required to obtain license from the Dutch. - If any ship was launched without a license, it was seized by the Dutch. ### 3.4 French - In 1664, the “French East India Company” (La Compagnie des Indes Orientalis) was established with the initiative of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French finance minister to King Louis XIV. - The company was given the authority to trade with eastern contries, to maintain army and navy, and also exemption from taxes. - The company was also given the authority to enter a war or treaty with the eastern rulers. - In 1666, the company sent a diplomatic contingent to the court of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and obtained the permission to establish a factory in Surat. - The first French factory in Surat was established in 1668. - Then the factories at Pondicherry (Puducherry), Chandranagar, Mahe, Karikal and Machilipatnam were built. - During this period the French were fighting with the Qutubshahi ruler and the Dutch. - Pondicherry was the main centre of the French operations. - It was ruled by the Nawab of Karnataka. - The members of the Nawab’s family were fighting amongst themselves for the throne. - The British and the French started intervening in the matter. - It resulted in three battles between the British and the French from 1744 to 1763 C.E. - These are known as “Carnatic Wars.” - The French were defeated by the British in the third battle. - With the defeat of the French, there was no European rival left in India for the British. == **Do you know?** == The British used to acquire large plots of land for their factories. These plots were used to build warehouses, residential quarters and offices were built on these plots. The main building of the factory carried ‘Union Jack’. The meals provided to the staff included bread, meat, rice, khichadi of pulses and rice, pickles, etc. Company had created beautiful gardens for the benefit of the staff at Surat, Karwar, Machilipatnam, Petapuli, Chennai and Mumbai. The British citizens were also appointed in the factories as apprentices, clerks and factors. Everybody, right from the President to apprentices, lived in the factory premises. All were provided food by the company mess. They were permitted to trade various commodities except those which were banned by the company (such as textiles, indigo, spices, wool, lead, corals, ivory, etc.). == **Try to do this:** == Make a list of the ship building facilities in pre-independence and post-independence India and collect information about the development of the ship building industry. == **Do you know?** == The king of Calicut wrote to the King of Portugal in a letter sent with Vasco-da-Gama, “Our state is rich in spices like cloves, ginger, black pepper and precious stones. We expect you to pay us in gold, silver, corals in exchange for our spices and precious stones.” Vasco-da-Gama sold the commodities in Portugal, which he carried from India. He could earn huge amount of profit in that trade, which was sixty times more that the money he spent for his return journey to Portugal. == **Try to do this:** == The currency of various countries is known by specific names. Prepare a list of countries and their currencies. == **Do you know?** == The Dutch established their first colony at Machchlipattinam. This port city came into existence in the 3rd century B.C.E. It is also mentioned in ‘Periplus' of Erythrean Sea as 'Mosalia'. == **Try to do this:** == Collect information of the church in Kerala, named after Vasco da Gama, with the help of internet. == **Do you know?** == Cartaz: The document of a Cartaz usually carried details like the name of the vessel (ship), the name of the captain of the ship, port of departure and arrival, the list of weaponry on the ship loaded for the purpose of self-defence, etc. == **Try to do this:** == Make a list of the ship building facilities in pre- independence and post-independence India and collect information about the development of the ship building industry. == **Try to do this:** == The currency of various countries is known by specific names. Prepare a list of countries and their currencies. The company started building forts in India as part of their strategy. They built a fort and a factory in Chennai. The fort was named as 'Fort St. George'. A mint was also established in Chennai. The British issued their own coinage of gold, silver, alloys and copper from this mint. In 1661, Charles II, the king of England was engaged to Braganza, the Princess of Portugal. The king of Portugal gifted the islands of Mumbai to Charles II on this occasion. Abraham Shipman, an Englishman was assigned 500 soldiers and was appointed as the 'Governor of Bombay'. In 1665, Mumbai was fully under the British control. Mumbai comprised seven islands, namely, Mumbai, Mahim, Paral, Wadala, Worli, Sion (Shiv) and Mazgaon. Charles II leased Mumbai to the East India Company because the expenditure for its maintenance exceeded than the income earned from it. In 1669, the company appointed Sir George Oxenden as Governor of Surat and Commander-in-Chief of Mumbai. A British mint was established in Mumbai and coins of silver, copper and zinc were issued from there. This encouraged merchants and artisans to come and settle down in Mumbai. The company had 5-6 small ships and around 300 soldiers to ensure the security of Mumbai. The soldiers were given guns and swords. In the next lesson, we are going to learn about the resistance to the foreign powers in India, put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.