Trade in spices, cotton, silk and other goods played a key role in relations between India and other countries in ancient times. By the 1st century, it had expanded substantially because of advances in transport. Pack animals were used to transport goods over land along the designated spice and silk routes, while sturdy vessels were used for the sea.
At the turn of the century, trade between India and the ancient Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire was extensive. Wealthy Romans bought spices, cloth and even live animals and birds from India in exchange for gold coins. In subsequent years, Indian goods also found their way to Western nations such as Italy, via the Arab lands, China and South-east Asia. Interest in Indian goods prompted the Europeans to travel to India in the 15th and 16th centuries to net lucrative trading opportunities. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to land by sea in India at the end of the 15th century. They were forced to find an alternate route to India after the traditional trade routes were closed by the Ottoman Empire. The Dutch, French and British came later, attracted by the prospect of huge profits to be made in India. Trade with these European companies enriched kingdoms such as Bengal and Bihar, which were independent of the weakened Mughal Empire.
Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama took a circuitous route around Africa, crossing the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to land at the western Indian port city of Calicut, Kerala, in May 1498 to trade in precious Indian spices. The goods he took back to Lisbon brought him a huge profit, which inspired others to make the trip to India. A second Portuguese expedition led by Pedro Alvares Cabral travelled to India a few years later and set up a trading post in Cochin. Soon the Portuguese had trading posts all along the west coast and controlled the entire trade in the Indian Ocean.
Franciso-de-Almedia was the first governor of Portuguese affairs in India and led the Portuguese colonising efforts until Alfanso-de-Albuquerque, the commander of a squadron, was appointed governor in 1509. Alfanso-de-Albuquerque was a capable leader who consolidated Portugal’s position in India. Shortly after taking over as governor, he captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate and made it the Portuguese seat of power in India.
After Alfanso’s death in 1515, his successors brought Diu, Daman and Bombay into the Portuguese fold. However, the Portuguese desire to make quick profits and their zeal in spreading Christianity worked against them. The local people, forced to embrace Christianity after the arrival of Spanish priest Francis Xavier in 1542, rebelled against the foreign colonisers and weakened their hold in India. The Portuguese were also unable to compete with the other Europeans who had landed in India looking for lucrative trading opportunities. The Portuguese gradually lost all their territories, except for Diu, Daman and Goa, which they retained until 1961.
Following the example of the Portuguese, Dutch merchants, who had set up their East India Company in the region, arrived in India in search of trade in the early 17th century. They established their first trading post near Chennai, venturing further afield along the western coast right up to Bengal. In 1616, the Dutch set up a printing press in Serampore, Bengal, and opened Protestant missions there. But their real interest lay in the East Indies where they found it more profitable to trade in spices. They slowly gave up their possessions in India to concentrate on this region.
The French also made inroads into India for commercial purposes. They established a factory in Surat, Gujarat, and their first trading post at Pondicherry in the south in 1664. The French, under Joseph Francois Dupleix, went on an expansionist drive and acquired Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe in the south and Chandannagar near Calcutta in the east. The three southern enclaves and the town of Pondicherry together form the modern union territory of Pondicherry.
The French struggled for trading supremacy with the British during the greater part of the 18th century. The two countries were bitter rivals and entered local power struggles, particularly in the southern kingdoms where they helped install rulers friendly to their interests. Their rivalry in India was a prelude to the worldwide Seven Years War (1756–1763) that the two European powers were involved in. Ultimately the British, led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive, were victorious in India. However, they returned Pondicherry to the French, and it remained a district of France until 1954 when the Indian government took over its administration. Chandannagar was incorporated in West Bengal state in 1949.
The British East India Company was set up in 1600 by a group of merchants to facilitate trade with Asia. Its main target was the East Indies, but the British were unable to break the Dutch stranglehold on the spice trade there and turned their attention to India instead. The company arrived in India in 1608, lured by the spices, silks, jewels and the cheap labour available. It set up a chain of factories all over the country and, by the middle of the 18th century, had overtaken its rivals to become a major commercial entity, reaping huge profits. Much of its success was achieved through plunder and manipulation.
The company was initially not interested in conquest, but when its power and influence grew, it brought in soldiers to defend itself from the harassment of local princes. It also began to intervene in Indian politics to enhance its profits and secure its possessions. The turning point in the company’s affairs in India came when company troops defeated a rebellious prince at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and the British East India Company became the ruler of Bengal. Another significant event was the Battle of Buxar in 1764 in which the British company defeated a group of Indian princes. Under Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive, the company indulged in large-scale plunder, extortion and atrocities against anyone who rebelled against its rule. As its political and commercial power grew, it set out to expand its territorial acquisitions.
Tipu Sultan: The Tiger Of Mysore
Tipu Sultan was the Muslim ruler of the southern kingdom of Mysore, who posed a serious threat to the rapidly spreading power and influence of the British East India Company. Mysore was involved in four wars with the British, and Tipu fought in all four, first under his father Haider Ali and later as the sultan of Mysore after his father died. He was killed by the British in May 1799 while defending his capital Seringapatam during the Fourth Mysore War.
Concerned about the atrocities and exploitative practices of the company, the British government recalled Clive. It tightened its control on the company by appointing Warren Hastings as governor general of Bengal in charge of affairs in India. In other changes brought about by the British government, parliamentary acts of 1813 and 1833 ended the company’s trade monopoly. It also banned discrimination against Indians who were in government employment.
The new British governor generals instituted a variety of reforms in India. Lord William Bentinck, who was governor general from 1828 to 1835, abolished sati, the practice of widow self-immolation, and banned thuggees, armed gangs who robbed and killed travellers. Widow remarriage was allowed by law and the ancient Devadasi tradition, in which women were ‘married’ to temple deities and trained in dance and music to entertain the Lord was banned. English was made the official language of the country and a number of Christian missionary schools and institutions of higher learning were built to provide English education.
Lord Dalhousie, as governor general, had roads and irrigation systems constructed and founded the Post and Telegraph Department. He made radical changes in Hindu law, terminating the right of an Indian ruler to adopt his heir. This change in law was widely unpopular, as it resulted in a number of independent states, including Jhansi, coming under the control of the British. The territories annexed by the company formed British India, which was divided into provinces such as Madras, Bengal and Bombay, and subdivided into districts. Governors, councillors, district collectors and other officials in these provinces were part of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) introduced by Lord Cornwallis when he was governor general. Indians were not allowed in the ICS until the 1860s. The states that were not under direct British rule retained their own monarchs but were required to follow the orders of the British. Calcutta became the capital of the British East India Company’s Indian territories.
Rani Of Jhansi
Lakshmi Bai, or Rani of Jhansi, the queen of the kingdom of Jhansi, was one of the heroines of the nationalist movement. She became a widow at the age of 18 after the death of her husband, Maharaja Gangadhar Rao, on 21 November 1853. The British refused to accept the Maharaja’s adopted son as his heir and decided to annex Jhansi. Lakshmi Bai, determined to defend her kingdom, assembled an army of volunteers and fought fearlessly when the British invaded Jhansi in March 1858. Despite her best efforts, she was defeated but she managed to escape dressed as a man with her son strapped to her back. The British caught up with her in neighbouring Gwalior and she died fighting on 18 June 1858. She was just 22 years old.
The company required more revenue to sustain its expansionist policies as British India grew in size. For this purpose, it taxed the public heavily and asked for more tribute from the independent states. This caused widespread public discontent and unrest, which in turn limited the growth of the economy. In 1857, unhappy Indian troops in Bengal revolted against British rule. In 1858, the British government dissolved the British East India Company and assumed direct control of its Indian affairs, paving the way for the British Raj.
The Sikhs and the Kohinoor Diamond
The Sikhs formed a powerful empire in Punjab during British company rule and were
united under Ranjit Singh who was known as the ‘Lion of
Punjab’. Ranjit Singh was the chief of the Sukerchakia clan and established
the Sikh kingdom of Punjab, after capturing Lahore in 1799. He built up a formidable army and gradually expanded
the empire to include parts of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir in the extreme north. The kingdom was inhabited by Sikhs,
the dominant group, as well as by Hindus and Muslims. Ranjit Singh encouraged agriculture
and supported commerce and industry in the state. His empire was peaceful and
prosperous, and he enjoyed amicable relations with the British. After his death in 1839, the empire fell into disarray and
six years later, in 1845, the Sikhs
fought their first war with the British and had to give
up part of their empire.
It was at this time that Maharaja Duleep Singh, a minor under the guardianship of his mother, gave away the famous Kohinoor (Mountain of Light) diamond to the British to adorn Queen Victoria’s crown. The 106-carat diamond was acquired by Ranjit Singh as part of his booty during a military campaign in Afghanistan. Under Ranjit Singh’s will, the diamond was to be given to a Hindu temple in Orissa. But his request was not carried out.
According to legend, the Kohinoor diamond originated in the diamond-producing region of Golconda in Andhra Pradesh. It belonged to the king of Malwa in the 14th century and fell into the hands of Muhammad bin Tughlaq in 1323. It later came under the possession of Mughal Emperor Babur but was plundered by Nadir Shah of Persia and taken to Afghanistan from where Ranjit Singh brought it to the Punjab. It is now on display at the Towerof London.