Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 28 views

    From Trade To Territory

    Uploaded by

    abhinav singh
    The East India Company began as a trading organization but gradually expanded its territorial control of India through battles and annexation policies over the 18th and 19th centuries. Key events included the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which made the Company the dominant political power in Bengal, and the annexation of Awadh in 1856 under the Doctrine of Lapse which allowed the Company to take territories whose rulers died without a male heir. By 1857 the Company directly ruled over much of India, paving the way for British colonial rule.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    From Trade To Territory

    Uploaded by

    abhinav singh
    28 views6 pages
    The East India Company began as a trading organization but gradually expanded its territorial control of India through battles and annexation policies over the 18th and 19th centuries. Key events included the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which made the Company the dominant political power in Bengal, and the annexation of Awadh in 1856 under the Doctrine of Lapse which allowed the Company to take territories whose rulers died without a male heir. By 1857 the Company directly ruled over much of India, paving the way for British colonial rule.

    Original Title

    From Trade to Territory

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The East India Company began as a trading organization but gradually expanded its territorial control of India through battles and annexation policies over the 18th and 19th centuries. Key events included the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which made the Company the dominant political power in Bengal, and the annexation of Awadh in 1856 under the Doctrine of Lapse which allowed the Company to take territories whose rulers died without a male heir. By 1857 the Company directly ruled over much of India, paving the way for British colonial rule.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    28 views6 pages

    From Trade To Territory

    Uploaded by

    abhinav singh
    The East India Company began as a trading organization but gradually expanded its territorial control of India through battles and annexation policies over the 18th and 19th centuries. Key events included the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which made the Company the dominant political power in Bengal, and the annexation of Awadh in 1856 under the Doctrine of Lapse which allowed the Company to take territories whose rulers died without a male heir. By 1857 the Company directly ruled over much of India, paving the way for British colonial rule.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 6

    Chapter-2

    From Trade to territory

    I) Introduction-
    End of Mughal Rule
    The last powerful Mughal ruler was Aurangzeb and after his
    death in 1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and big
    zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing
    regional kingdoms.
    II) East India Company Comes East
     The East India Company, in 1600, acquired a charter from
    the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting the
    Company sole right to trade with the East.
     Other European companies who came to east were- The
    Portuguese, the Dutch and the French.
     Things they traded- the fine qualities of cotton, silk, pepper,
    cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.
    III) East India Company began trade in Bengal
     In 1651, the first English factory in Bengal was set up.
     It was the base from which the Company’s traders, known
    as “factors”, operated.
     In the warehouse of the factory, goods for export were
    stored.
    IV) How trade led to battles
     The Bengal nawabs refused to grant the Company
    concessions and stopped it from extending its fortifications.
     They also claimed that the Company was depriving the
    Bengal government of huge amounts of revenue and
    undermining the authority of the nawab.
     The conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated in
    the famous Battle of Plassey.
    V) Battle of Plassey
     In 1756, Alivardi Khan died and Sirajuddaulah became
    the nawab of Bengal.
     The Company tried to help one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals to
    become the nawab.
     After Sirajuddaulah came to know about the Company’s
    strategy, he asked them to stop meddling in their political
    affairs, stop fortification, and pay the revenues.
     In 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against
    Sirajuddaulah at Plassey.
     The main reason for the defeat was that the forces led by
    Mir Jafar never fought the battle.
     The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the
    first major victory the Company won in India.
     Finally Mir Jafar became the puppet ruler of Bengal.
    VI) Battle of Buxar
     The Battle of Buxar took place on 1764, between the
    British army and a combined alliance of Indian rulers
    from Bengal, Oudh, and the Mughal Empire.
     They were Mir Qasim-the nawab of Bengal,Shuja-ud-
    daula ruler of Oudh and Shah Alam II, the Mughal
    emperor.
     The battle ended in 1765, with the Mughal Emperor
    surrendering and Bengal coming under British control.
     . In 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the Company as
    the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal.
     It allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources
    of Bengal. From the early eighteenth century, the
    Company’s trade with India had expanded.

    VII) *“Nabobs”
     The British officials who returned Britan with wealth were
    called “nabobs” – an anglicised version of the Indian word
    nawab.
    VIII) Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”
     Mysore, under the leadership of powerful rulers like Haidar
    Ali (ruled from 1761 to 1782) and his famous son Tipu
    Sultan (ruled from 1782 to 1799) had grown in strength.
     Tipu Sultan, in 1785, stopped the export of sandalwood,
    pepper and cardamom.
     The Company fought four wars with Mysore (1767-69,
    1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799).
     Finally, in the last – the Battle of Seringapatam – the
    Company achieved victory.
    IX) War with the Marathas
     The Company from the late eighteenth century was
    planning to destroy Maratha power.
     The first war ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there
    was no clear victor.
     The Second AngloMaratha 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.
     Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-19 crushed
    Maratha power.
    X) Annexation Policies made by EIC
    Subsidiary alliance
     Subsidiary alliance means Indian rulers were not allowed to
    have their independent armed forces.
     They were to be protected by the Company, but had 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 a penalty.
    The claim to paramountcy
     Paramountcy a new policy was initiated under Lord
    Hastings (GovernorGeneral from 1813 to 1823).
     The Company claimed that its power was greater than that
    of Indian states.
     Punjab was annexed in 1849, after two prolonged wars.
    The Doctrine of Lapse
     Under Lord Dalhousie who was the Governor-General from
    1848 to 1856 the final wave of annexations occurred.
     The Doctrine of Lapse is a policy devised by him which
    declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his
    kingdom would “lapse”, that is, become part of Company
    territory.
     In 1856, the Company took over Awadh. Enraged by the
    humiliating way in which the Nawab was deposed, the
    people of Awadh joined the great revolt that broke out in
    1857.
    XI) Setting up a New Administration
     Warren Hastings (Governor-General from 1773 to 1785)
    played a significant role in the expansion of Company
    power.
     During his time, the Company had acquired power in
    Bengal, Bombay and Madras. British territories were
    broadly divided into administrative units called
    Presidencies.
     There were three Presidencies: Bengal, Madras and
    Bombay.
     Each was ruled by a Governor. From 1772 a new system of
    justice was established.
     According to the new system, each district needed to have
    two courts – a criminal court ( faujdari adalat ) and a civil
    court (diwani adalat).
     The Brahman pandits have different interpretations of local
    laws based on different schools of the dharmashastra.
     By 1778 a code of Muslim laws was also compiled for the
    benefit of European judges.
    XII) The Company army
     In India, colonial rule brought some new ideas of
    administration and reform.
     The Mughal army composed of cavalry (sawars: trained
    soldiers on horseback) and infantry, that is, paidal (foot)
    soldiers.
    XIII) Conclusion
     The East India Company was transformed from a trading
    company to a territorial colonial power.
     In the early nineteenth century, new steam technology
    arrived.
     By 1857 the Company came to exercise direct rule over
    about 63 per cent of the territory and 78 percent of the
    population of the Indian subcontinent.
    ************************************************

    You might also like