Advent of Europeans

Advent of Europeans

India had contact with European from time immemorial through land route. But the discovery of direct sea route had far reaching consequences on the shape and course of Indian society and history.

First to arrive in India as traders was Portuguese, followed by Dutch, British and French.

Much water had flown under the bridge in these 450 years in India. Indian underwent a transition from a feudal, conservative, exclusive social system to a capitalistic, progressive, inclusive social system, during this period with self-assertion and introspection and internal stimuli of ideas of equality, liberty, fraternity and people's rule instead of one man's rule, i.e., from monarchy to democracy.

Portuguese

• The spirit of adventure that led to foundation of modern world promoted geographical discoveries to the far-flung areas. The primary objectives of these voyages were earning profit from the trade with eastern countries.
• Prince Henry, the navigator who was the king of Portuguese took lead among the European nations and promoted sea fairing activities. 
• During the reign of King John II, a sailor Bartholomew Dias crossed the Cape of good hope.
• During the tenure of King Emmanuel, a sailor Vasco Da Gama reached on the coast of Calicut in India in May 1498. He was given a good reception be the Zamorin of Kerala.
• By 1503, Francisco De Almedia was sent as the first Portuguese viceroy in India. He came with his 'Blue Water Policy' where by he proposed to establish Portuguese domination in Indian Ocean and Arabian sea.
• Alfonso De Albuquerque was the next viceroy who is considered as the real founder of Portuguese power in the east. He conquered Hormuz (Strait of Hormuz) in the Persian Gulf and eclipsed the influence of Arab traders in India. He conquered Goa in 1510 and created a Portuguese fort in Cochin with the permission of local ruler.
• During the tenure of Nino Da Cunha, the Portuguese acquired Diu in 1534 and Bassein in 1538.
• One of the major impact on Indian society due to the arrival of Portuguese was the promotion of cash crop in India like cotton, spices, silk and tobacco.

Dutch

• Dutch East India Company was established on March 28, 1602.
• Dutch were mainly interested in spice trade. 
• They opened their trading post at Pulicat, Cambay, Surat, Qasim bazar, Nagapattinam, Hariharpur, Decca, Patna and Agra.
• They had to face stiff competition from English, French and Portuguese.
• They also had a monopoly of trade with Indonesia which is considered as the major reason why they left India.

Danish (Denmark

• Danish East India Company was established in 1616. They created their trading outpost at Tranquebar (Chennai) and Freidrick Nagore in Serampore in Bengal.
• They were more interested in Christian Missionary activities and made Serampore hub of their missionary cativities.
• Danish officer, William Reverand Carey established a printing press in 1799 at Serampore to publish Bible.
• In 1819, Serampore college was established to provide higher education in western style.

British

• English Association of Merchant Adventurers' was established in 1599 with the objective of carrying on trade with the east. On December 31, 1600 Queen Elizabeth gave royal charter for 15 years to Merchant Adventurers. Over the period this company in India came to be known as British East India Company.
• Around 1608, a British envoy led by Sir William Hawkins came to the court of Jahangir who gave them trading concessions and also mansab status to William Hawkins. But soon all the concessions were revoked by Jahangir under the pressure of nobles in his court. By this time in 1612, British completed construction of warehouses at Surat and Masulipatnam.
• In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe visited Jahangir's court and British were granted further trading concessions after which they established their factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Baroach.
• In 1639, they got villages on lease around Madras where they created St. Fort George.
• In 1661, there was a matrimonial alliance between Portuguese princess Catherine of Briganza with Prince Charles II of Britain. As a dowry price the island of Bombay was transferred to British monarch. In 1668, Bombay was transferred to British East India Company at a nominal price of 10 pounds. Bombay soon became the trading headquarter of the British.
• They entered in the east relatively late, i.e., Hariharpur in 1633. 
• In 1698, they received three villages on lease which is Govindpur, Sutnauti and Kalikatta and clubbed them together to create St. Fort William.

French

• French East India Company was the last European company established in 1664.
• French East India Company was a state owned company on the other had British East India Company was a private entity.
• From 1723, French East India Company was completely controlled by the French government.
• They established their factories at Surat (1668), Masulipatnam (1669), Pondicherry (1673) and Chandranagar (1692).
• Soon after the arrival of French East India Company, rivalry between French and British started known as Anglo-French rivalry (Carnatic Wars).
• With the appointment of French governor Joseph Francois Dupleix in 1740, the rivalry between the two company aggravated (Anglo-French Rivalry)
• French were the first who initiated the strategy of interfering in the internal affairs of Indian stated to obtain political mileage but it was the British who mastered this strategy and used it for eliminating the imperial ambitions of French.

Next Article - Later Mughals

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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own. 

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