Arrival of East India Company & Expansion Flashcards
What was the East India Company?
East India company was the first multi-national company of the world. It was established in 1600 by the permission of Queen Elizabeth I. They came to India in 1608 and started their trade with the Indians in 1612. It was a group of merchants who were interested to establish a port at Surat in India.
Why did the company get involved in the sub-continent during the 17th Century?
There was enormous wealth in India and the real motive for the company to come to India was for trade in spices, silk, yarn, cotton clothes and goods of metal work, which were very demanding in Europe. Therefore it was trade and high profit that allowed the company to keep on coming to India. It is also believed that within few years after trade in India, the British government obtained 10% of their income from trade in India.
It is also believed that the company wanted to spread their religion, Christianity, and Christian missionaries came along with the trader and established chapels and churches all over India.
Moreover the Portuguese and the Dutch were already in field but had turned their attention towards far east, in Indonesia, and did not allow the company to enter there. Hence the company was provoked to come to India.
Furthermore, the British feared Russian expansion under ‘Warm Water Policy’, industrialization was also going on in Europe, the process of colonization had also began in the 17th Century and British also wanted to maintain their tea trade with China, under all these circumstances the company came to India to settle there. The ‘Blue Water Policy’ and strong naval power had also provoked the company to come to India. The relative ease with whcich the British came to India was due to the decline of the Mughal Empire
How successful was Indian resistance to British attempts to control the land of the sub-continent between 1750-1850.?
The Indian resistance during 1750-1850 was unsuccessful. The British came to India for trade which proved to be profitable for them. To secure and increase their trade, the British government found it necessary to have political control over Indian territories. he first Indian resistance and the first battle between and Indian ruler took place in 1757, known as the Battle of Plassey. It was followed by the Battle of Buxar (1764), then the Mysore Wars (1799), then the Maratha Wars (1818), followed by the annexation of Sindh (1839-18430) and then Punjab and NWFP (1849)
What was the battle of Plassey?
The battle of Plassey took place in 1757. In the battle of Plassey the forces of East India Company, under the command of Robert Clive met with the forces of Siraj-ud-Daula, the nawab of Bengal. Clive had 800 Europeans and 2200 Indian soldiers whereas Siraj-ud-Daula had 50,000 men with artillery. Unfortunately Mir Jafar, the general of Siraj-ud-Daulas’s army, met with Clive and most of the nawab’s soldiers were bribed to throw their weapons prematurely.
What was the battle of Buxar?
The battle of Plassey was followed by the battle of Buxar. The battle of Buxar was fought in 1764. Mir Qasim, the new nawab of Bengal, took help from Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula, the nawab of Awadh and Shah Alam II and fought against the company under the command of Major Hector Manro. Manro defeated the combined army at Buxar in 1764. Mir Qasim fled and died in 1777. Mir Qasim was the son-in-law of Mir Jafar
What were the Mysore wars?
The British wanted full control of the south of India to insure their spice trade. Lord Wallesley became the governor general of India in 1798. Tipu Sultan tried to make alliance with the French against the Britsh in India. Wallesley questioned Tipu’s relationship with the French and attacked Mysore in 1799. The 4 Angolo Mysore Wars were of short duration, decisive and ended with Tipu Sultan’s deathe on 4th May 1799, while fighting to defend hi capital Saringaptan.
What were the Maratha Wars?
Beside Tipu Sultan, the Marathas were also defeated and Maratha power was destroyed by the British in several wars between 1817-1818. Baji Rao 2 was trying to consolidate the Marathas but he had to surrender in June 1818. British under Warren Hasting abolished the position of the Peshwa and the Maratha power was limited to a small kingdom of Satara and eventually Maratha power ended.
How was Sindh annexed?
British wanted to insure that Afghanistan did not fall into Russian hands, meanwhile a rebellion took place in Afghanistan in 1841. The British got the opportunity and attacked Afghanistan, but British troops were killed and British thought that their pride had been hurt in Afghanistan so they turned their attentions towards Sindh. Sindh was ruled by the Amirs, who had signed a treaty with the British in 1809. The British under General Sir Charles Napier provoked the Amirs so much that they attacked on the British, but the Amirs were defeated and Sindh was annexed in 1843.
How was Punjab and NWFP annexed?
Punjab was the next target after Sindh. It was ruled by Rana Ranjit Singh, who had a friendship treaty with the British in 1809, but after his death in 1839 his successors fought for the throne. This provided an opportunity to the company and they attacked on Punjab. The company remained victorious due to the treachery of Ghulab Singh Dogra, who was later awarded with Kashmir for his treachery. Eventually Punjab and NWFP fell into British Empire in 1849.
Who was Robert Clive?
Robert Clive was born on 29th September 1725, also known as the Clive of India, was a British officer and privateer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. he is credited with securing a large swath of South Asia and the wealth that followed, for the British East India Company. Clive also improvised a military expedition that ultimately enabled the East India Company to adopt the French Strategy of indirect rule via puppet government.
Clive was also one the most controversial figures in all British military history. His achievements included establishing control over much of India and laying the foundation of the entire British Raj. For his methods and self-aggrandizement, he was vilified by his contemporaries in England and put on trial before the Parliament. He died on 22nd November 1774.
What was the Black Hole Tragedy?
The Black Hole of Calcutta, was a small dungeon/ prison in Fort William were the troops of Siraj-ud-Daula (nawab of Bengal) held British troops of war after the Bengali army captured the fort on 20 June 1756.
John Zephaniah Howell, one of the British prisoners and employee of the East India Company said that, “After the fall of Fort William, the survivors were imprisoned overnight in a conditions so cramped that many people died of suffocation and heat exhaustion, and 123 out of 146 prisoners of war died.” This event is known as ‘The Black Hole Tragedy”.
Who was Tipu Sultan?
Tipu Sultan was born on 20th November 1750, and was a ruler of the kingdom of Mysore. He was the eldest son of Sultan Haider Ali of Mysore. Tipu introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including coinage, new Maludi lunisolar calender, a land revenue system which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry. Tipu expanded the iron-cased Mysorian rockets and commissioned the military maual Fathul Mujahideen, and is considered a pioneer in the use of rocket artillery; Tipu Sultan deployed these rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysorean Wars, including Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Saringapatan. He also embarked on an ambitious economic development program that established Mysore as a major economic power, with some of the world’s highest real wages and living standards in the late 18th Century. Tipu Sultan died on 4th May 1799.
