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EAST INDIA COMPANY

1600-1858 A.D.

Overview

The East India Company received a

Charter on December 31, 1600 from

Queen ElizebetH, which granted the

Company monopoly of Eastern trade

for 15 years .

Gradually from trade the British mo-

nopolised the political power in the In-

dian sub-continent.

Lack of unity among the Indian rulers

facilitated

East

India

Company's

growth.

3 Carnatic wars destroyed the influ-

ence of French in India.

The battle of Plassey (1757) at which

Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-daula, Na-

wab of Bengal, gave the British a firm

footing in Bengal. Mir Jafar, Siraj-ud-

daula's general who had conspired with

Clive, was made the N a wab. The battle

of Buxar (1764) at which Major Hector

Munro defeated Mir Kasim, who had been

installed as Nawab following the depo-

sition of Mir Jafar, confirmed the British

as the masters of Bengal.

The rule of the East India Company ended

in 1858 with the assumption of the ad-

ministration of India directly by the Brit-

ish Crown.

Warren Hastings consolidated British

power in India; Lord Cornwallis' settle-

ment of land revenue made the zam-

indars permanent owners of the land

subject to the payment (if a fixed annual

revenue to the government; Wellesley

crushed Tippu Sultan of Mysore; Bentinck

abolished

Sati

and made English the

medium of education; Dalhousie intro-

duced the Doctrine of lapse, under which

native states were annexed if their rulers

died leaving no natural heirs.

Advent

An Association of Merchants was

granted a Charter by Queen Elizabeth I

in 1600 A. D. to carry on trade between

Britain and the East Indies. The early

voyages of the English were to Suma-

tra, Java and the Moluccas to obtain a

share of the spice trade which was a

Dutch monopoly. But the English failed

to get a foothold in the East Indies,

because of Dutch opposition and turned

to India. The Company came to have

increasing political involvements in India

along with increasing control from the

GURKHAS

• Delhi

Robert Clive

Robert Clive started his career as a clerk

in the British East India Company.

Actively took part in the Carnatic War

and responsible for the Fall of French in

India.

Clive had been a servant of the Gover-

nor of Madras and the Council of Ma-

dras, when he won the battle of Plassey.

His position was regularised when the

Calcutta council in 1758 elected him to

the Governorship of Bengal.

He left for England in 1760 the Com-

pany sent him back to Calcutta in 1765.

He left India finally in 1767.

British India in 1765, after the

victories of Robert Clive

British Goverment and a decreasing in-

volvement in trade, until in 1858 the

company charter was revoked and all of

its territories in India were placed directly

under the Crown.

Charter

Queen Elizabeth I granted to "The

Governor and Company of Merchants of

London, trading with the East-Indies, the

following charter in 1600:

"....

We do order, make, ordain, constitute,

establish and declare, by these presents

and that by the same name of governor and

company of Merchants of London, trading

into the East Indies, be and shall be at all

times hereafter, persons able and capable in

law to have, purchase, receive, possess,

enjoy and retain, lands, rents, privileges,

liberties,

jurisdictions,

franchises

and

hereditements of whatsoever kind, nature

and quality so ever they be, to them and

their successors".

Before the advent of the English, there

were many other nations trading in India,

eg. Dutch, Portuguese, French, Denmark

etc.

Trading

First Headquarters at Surat (1612); later

Bombay (1674). Factory at Madras and

Hooghly

(1651).

Replaced by Fort William

factory (1690). Main trading articles were:

cotton, cotton yam and indigo (Gujarat) pepper

and other spices (Malabar) precious goods,

yam and sugar (Madras and South East Coast)

silk and salt (Bengal).

Chronology

Robert Clive

(1758-

Warren Hastings

Lord Cornwallis

Sir John Shore

Lord Wellesley

Lord Minto

Lord Hastings

Lord William Bentinck

Lord Hardinge

60 & 1765-67)

(1772-1785)

(1786-1793)

(1793-1798)

(1798-1805)

(1807-1813)

(1813-1823)

(1828-1835)

(1844-1848)

(1848-1856)

Wars (till 1856)

First Carnatic War (1746-48) (between

French and British East India Companies,

triggered off by the War of Austrian

Succession (1740-48) in Europe).-

Second Carnatic War (1748-54)

Third Carnatic War (1756-63)

Battle of Plassey (1757)

Battle of Buxar (1764)