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You are here: Home / History / European Penetration and the British Conquest

European Penetration and the British Conquest

February 26, 2020 by BureaucratONE Leave a Comment Last Updated February 26, 2020

  1. But Why TRADE ?!!
    1. Eu lived on salted & Peppered meat during winter months
    2. Little grass to feed the cattle
    3. Only liberal use of spices would make it palatable
    4. So the trade remained profitable in spite of Tolls & duties by every state and prob of pirates
    5. Trade with India & Indonesia was highly priced for W Eu to give it up easily
    6. The rich wealth of India & The shortage of Gold all over Eu attracted Europeans to India
  1. Hence search for new routes for India & Spice Is (Indonesia)
    1. Environment was conducive
      1. Ship building
      2. Science of Navigation of 15th Cent
      3. Renaissance and the spirit of adventure
    2. Pioneers - Portugal & Spain
    3. 1492 - Columbus (Spain) - America instead of India
    4. 1498 - Vasco da Gama (Portugal) - India
      1. Via Cape of good hope
      2. Calicut
      3. Goods from there sold for 60 times the voyage cost
  2. Triangular Trade - profits helped IR and west in general
    1. Sold finished good from Europe to Africa and buy slaves
    2. Sold slaves to plantation workers in America and brought plantation produce
    3. Exchanged them with plantation goods
  3. Monopoly Game
    1. Portugal
      1. Monopoly of E trade for a Century coz
        1. Enjoyed control over high seas
        2. Soldiers  maintained strict Discipline
        3. Didn't have to face the might of the Mughal empire
      2. Trading settlements - Cochin, Goa, Diu, Daman.
      3. Albuquerque - Captured Goa in 1510 - Domination of Asian trade  - from Hormuz to Malacca to Spice Is (Indonesia)
      4. They were Dickheads coz (People are so full of shit !!)
        1. Followed merchandise as chief occupation but like English & Dutch had no objection to plunder
        2. Pirates & Plunderers
        3. Forcible conversions i.e. Christianity or Sword
        4. Barbaric - inhuman cruelties & Lawlessness
    2. Breaking the Mpoly
      1. Dutch,England, french and Holland replaced them
      2. Dutch vs England(1654-1667) - led to keeping of
        1. India, Srilanka , Malaya  with England
        2. and Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Spice Is) with Dutch
      3. Portuguese gave goa as dowry to King Charles II and eventually lost Indian possession to Br. Except goa, Diu and Daman
  4. Royal Farman
    1. EIC under Captain Hawkins got Royal Farman from Jahangir to open factory in Surat in 1608
    2. In 1615 got Imperial Farman from _____ to open factory all over Mughal Empire by Thomas Roe
  1. THE GROWTH OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY TRADE AND INFLUENCE - 1600-1714
    1. English Association in 1599 by Merchant Adventurers
    2. 1600 - Exclusive charter from Queen Elizabeth - 15 yrs - East of Cape of Good hope
    3. 1608 - Surat Factory
    4. 1611 - 1st southern factory Masulipatnam
    5. 1638 - Shifted Madras
    6. 1668 - Br bought Bombay island from EIC and fortified
    7. Factory
      1. Fortified
      2. Employees - Paid less
      3. But real income - Keen - Private trade within the country
  1. Anglo - French rivalry
  2. Br occupation of  Bengal
    1. Bo Plassey 1757 - Political sway of Br
    2. Bengal
      1. Most fertile
      2. Richest of Ind Provinces
      3. Industry & Commerce well developed
  3. Warren Hastings (1772-85)
    1. Dark hour for Br
      1. 1st Anglo Maratha war (Draw)
        1. Maratha chiefs were united under Peshwa and his CM Nana Phadnis
        2. Maratha + Mysore + Hyderabad vs Br 
        3. Same time Am colonies war 1776
        4. Treaty of Salbai 1782
        5. Result
          1. 20 yrs peace of Br with Maratha
          2. Hence Pr on Mys
    2. War with Hyder ali  (2nd AM War)
      1. Hyder ali captured Carnatic
      2. Hastings
        1. bribed Nizam for Anti - br Alliance
        2. Peace with Maratha and freed his army for fight against Mysore
      3. Eyre Coot defeated Hyder @ Porto Novo
      4. Hyder died
      5. Tipu Continued
      6. Draw & Peace was signed 1784
    3. 3rd AM War 89-92 (Cornwallis)
      1. Tipu was most formidable rival from south
      2. Treaty of Seringapatam
      3. Ceded half his territories
  4. Expansion under Wellesley (1798-1805)
    1. Large scale expansion
    2. Time when Br vs Fr All over the world
    3. Mysore & Maratha had declined
    4. 3 methods for expansion
      1. Subsidiary alliance
      2. Outright war
      3. Assumption of territory of previous subordinate rulers
    5. Subsidiary Alliance
      1. Permanent stationing of Br Force
      2. Subsidy for its maintenance
        1. Form of tribute to the Company
        2. Sometimes ceded part of the territory instead of subsidy
      3. Br resident @ his court
        1. Not employ any European without his consent
      4. Cant negotiate with any other Indian ruler Without Govt consent
      5. In return
        1. Br defend the ruler
        2. Non interference in internal affairs
      6. The result
        1. Independence
        2. Self defense
        3. Diplomatic Rln
        4. Foreign experts
        5. Settling disputes with neighbors
        6. Internal decay
        7. Artificially bloated subsidy
        8. No incentive for good rulers
        9. Br could maintain large army at the cost of Indian rulers
        10. Trojan horse - Heart of the land - Powerful army
      7. Treaties
        1. Nizam of Hyderabad
        2. Nawab of Awadh
        3. Mysore
        4. Carnatic
        5. Tanjore
        6. Surat
      8. Tipu & Mysore
        1. Alliance with revolutionary France
        2. Missions to Afghanistan, Arabia, Turkey for Anti Br Alliance
        3. Divided bw nizam, br, rest restored to original rajas
  5. Expansion under Hastings (1813-1822)
    1. 2nd Anglo-Maratha war (1803) had shattered Maratha power
    2. Last attempt - 1817
      1. United Maratha front
      2. Br succeeded
    3. Now on Maratha chiefs - Mercy of the Br
    4. 1818 - Whole of India - Br - Except Punjab and Sindh
  6. Consolidation of Br Power (1818-1857)
    1. Br conquered whole of India from 1818 to 1857
      1. Sindh & Punjab was conquered
      2. Awadh, CP & Petty states was annexed
    1. Sindh
      1. Result of Anglo-Russian rivalry
      2. The fear of Russia attacking India through Afghanistan
      3. 1832 - Br trade was opened
      4. 1839 - Amirs - Subsidiary treaty with Br - Territorial integrity will be respected, it said
      5. 1943 - annexed - Charles Napier - "We have no right to seize Sind, yet we shall do, and a very advantageous useful humane piece of rascality it will be "
    2. Punjab Conquest
  1. Dalhousie & Annexation (1848- 1856)
    1. Wanted to increase the area
    2. Believed that
      1. Br exports to Indian states were suffering coz of Maladministration
      2. Indian allies had served their purpose (Br conquest) and wanted to dispose them off
    3. Doctrine of lapse
      1. What is it ?
        1. When the ruler of the protected state died without a natural hair (hehe !!), his state would not pass on to the adopted heir as sanctioned by age old tradition unless the adoption has been approved by the Br authorities
      2. States
        1. Satara - 1848
        2. Berar - 1853 - Cotton producing province
        3. Jhansi - 1854
        4. Nagpur - 1854
        5. Awadh - 1856
          1. Br allies since Bo Buxar
          2. Most obedient
          3. N had Had many Hairs
          4. So Wajid Ali Shah accused of Mis-governance & of refusing to introduce reforms
          5. Why Awadh
            • Potential market for Manchester goods
      3. Titles (pensions were stopped)
        1. Nawab of Carnatic
        2. N of Surat
        3. Raja of Tanjore
        4. Nana Saheb - Son of Peshwa Baji Rao 2

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