French East India Company

French East India Company

The coming of French to India started very late and their initial attempts failed because of Dutchess. even then people like Henry IV. Rislu and Colbert (finance minister of Henry IV) realised the significance of Eastern trade. On Colbert's request in 1664, Compagnie Des Indes Orientals was established in India. In 1667, an expedition group came to India under the leadership of Francis Caro and established first factory in Surat.

In 1669, Mercara established second factory in Masulipatnam after getting permission from the Sultan of Golkunda.

In 1672, the French acquired Santhome near Madras.

In 1673, Franco Martin and Laspino got a village from the Muslim Subedar of Valikondapur, this latter became Pondicherry.

In 1674, Shaista Khan, nawab of Bengal provided a place for the French settlement where the famous mansion of Chandranagar was built in 1692.

The rivalry between the Dutch and French were going on in Europe due to which Dutch took Pondicherry away from french in 1693, but after the Rizwik treaty in 1697, Dutch returned Pondicherry to French.

In 1706, the population of Pondicherry had reached 40000.

In June 1720, the company was restructured as permanent in India.

Initial English Settlements of Bengal

Bengal was one such place where goods could not be purchased near coast and one had to enter into inlands in order to purchase the goods and there the Britishers had to pay toll taxes at several points and they were harassed by local officers.

In 1651, Shah Shuja (son of Shah Jahan) made a firman by which the company was granted the right to trade in lieu of rupees 3000 annually.

In 1656, another firman (declaration) was passed by which the goods going to the British factories or coming out of it will be exempted from toll tax and those goods shall not be opened.

In 1672, the company obtained a firman from Shaista Khan (governor of Bengal) by which they were exempted of duties.

In 1680, Aurangzeb issued a firman, according to which, not to trouble Britishers for tax and no obstacle should be imposed on their trade. He also ordered a Jizya of 1.5% apart from 2% of toll tax on the goods of the Britishers. But the agents of company could not escape from the demands of the officials. Troubled by the local officials, Britishers changed their policy and decided to defend themselves by the use of power and they planned for fortified settlement in Hoogli so that offensive could be launched when required.

In August 1682, a group of delegates under the leadership of William Hadges (first English governor of Bengal) was sent to the Mughal Subedar so as to put an end to the forced toll tax, but they failed.

In 1686, the Mughals attacked Hoogli and the Britishers revenged by occupying Mughal forts, Thana. But in the end , the Britishers were defeated and had to take shelter on an island, suffering from fever.

In 1687, Britishers got permission to return to Bengal after agreement with Job Charnauk.

In 1690, Job Charnauk built a mansion in Sutanty that led the foundation of the future capital of English.

In 1691, Ibrahim Khan issued a firman by which the Britishers were exempted from toll tax on paying rupees 3000 annually. The Britishers got the permission for the fortification of Sutanty mansion in 1696 in the name of protection against the Jamindar of Burdwan, Shobha Singh.

In 1698, east India Company were given the Zamindari of Sutanaty, Kalikata and Govindpur in lieu of rupees 1200, this team came to be known as Fort William and the Presidency and council were established here.

In 1700, the factories of Bengal were placed under Fort William and Charles Iyer became the first President of Fort William. In Fort William, the Britishers had the right both on the British and Indian subjects. On the British subject as per the English laws and on the Indians by the virtue of Zamindar.

The prosperity beyond expectation of the company made the enemies in England and they start objecting company's monopoly. In 1694, the House of Common passed a resolution that all the citizen of England had the equal right to trade in India. After the resolution, two companies were formed in 1698: General Society and English Company of Merchants. These companies became the competitor of East India Company and it send William Nauris to the court of Aurangzeb in order to get some commercial facilities. These companies decided to merge in 1702 and finally merged in 1707-08.

In 1715, a group of representatives were sent to the Mughal court for securing the trading monopoly over the whole Mughal empire and to get some villages near Calcutta. This delegation was led by John Sumon and was assisted by Edward Stephenson and a surgeon called William Hamilton and an interpreter Khwaja Sehurd (Mughal emperor during that time was Farukshiyar). Hamilton saved Farukshiyar from a chronic desease, please by this he issued a firman in 1717, by which,

1) East India Company had not to pay any tax other than the annual tax of rupees 3000.

2) East India Company was allowed to acquire land on rent near Calcutta.

3) The exemption of tax in Hyderabad was maintained.

4) East India Company had to pay rent in Madras.

5) The coins of the company minted in Mumbai were allowed to be circulated throughout India.

Orme has called this firman of Farukshiyar as 'Magna Carta' of the company.

East India Company

31st December 1600 marked the beginning of commercial prosperity when the East India company earlier known as "Merchant Adventurer" was given trading rights with India for 15 years. 

The first Effort begun in 1600 when captain William Hawkins was sent with a letter of James I in the court of Akbar (but reached in the court of Jahangir). Hawkins was welcomed nicely but he could not establish factory because of Portuguese opposition. Hawkins left Agra in 1611. In the beginning of 1613, Jahangir issued a firman by which the English were allowed to establish a permanent factory in Surat. James I sent another ambassador, Saint Thomas to the Mughal Court with the objective of signing a commercial treaty. St. Thomas was in the court of Jahangir from December 1615 to the end of 1618, but he could not succeed in forming a treaty with Mughal emperor. Sir Thomas Row left India in November 1618.

Charles II

In 1668, Charles II gave Bombay to East India Company on the annual rent of 10 pound and thus Bombay became more important place than Surat in 1687.

In 1611, the Britishers established a factory at Masulipatnam on the South Eastern coast (it was the main seaport of Golkunda state). From this area, textiles were purchased and exported to Persia, but due to the Dutch opposition in 1627 another factory was established at Armagaon.

In 1632, the Sultan of Golkunda gave Britishers a golden firman, according to which they could trade freely from the port by giving 500 pagoda tax annually.

In 1633, factories were opened in Hariharpur and Balasaur in North East of Mahanadi.

In 1639, Francis Dey took Madras on lease from the ruler of Chandragiri. Fort of St. George was built in here and it became the headquarter of the settlement of Coromondal coast.

In 1651, Mr. Bridgeman opened a factory in Hoogli.

In 1658, Bengal, Bihar, Orisaa and Coromondal coast factories were placed under St. George fort.

Gradually the company changed its policy , instead of peaceful trading it started trying to establish its dominance by means of territorial expansion and it gained success due to political weakness of India.

Advent of the Dutch

In 1583, Linsanton came to Goa and route a book on the sea routes of the eastern world. This book was published in 1595.

Dutch East India Company

In 1602, Dutch East India Company was established by merging several companies, it was given the right to trade,war, treaty and conquest in India for 21 years. Establishments in India were:

1605 - Masulipatnam

1610 - Pulicat

1616 - Surat

1653 - Chinsura

1658 - Patna, Kasimbazar

1663 - Cochin

The Indigo produced in the central India reached Dutch from Surat and raw silk, woolen cloth, opium, salt peter and rice were exported from Bengal, Bihar and Coromondal.

In 1619, Negapatnam became the principle centre of Dutch on the Coromondal coast.

In 1661, a treaty was signed between the Kings of Portuguese and England (Charles II). In this treaty, Charles II got Bombay as dowry along with Catherine Bragenja and in return Charles II promised to help Portuguese against Dutch. (Bahadur Shah of Gujarat had gifted Bombay to Nunha Da Kunha).

The Dutch on the one hand expelled Portuguese out of the overseas trade in India and on the other hand gave new direction to the Indian trade. The Dutch gave importance to cloth instead of spices. In Modern age, the making of Indian textile credit goes to Dutch.

Decline of Portuguese

Several internal and external factors were responsible for its decline in India. Portuguese was a small country and it lacked in man power, also death rate during travel was more than 60%, Religious intolerance made various Indian super powers their enemies.

After the discovery of Brazil, the colonial activities of Portuguese shifted towards west. Other reasons include the auctioning of administrative posts and maltrade practices.

Impact of Portuguese Trade on Indian trade

The Portuguese overseas empire was named as "Estado Da India" and its initial objective was to establish monopoly over trade of Black Pepper and spices of the East. Portuguese used force to earn money, for which they used unique methods such as,

1) forced the Asian traders and ships to pay security duties.

2) the security tax charged by Portuguese for the sea route under their control was known as Cartaze. Under this system, each ship had to purchase entry pass from the Portuguese viceroy.

Indian trade with Japanese was a contribution of Portuguese (Copper and Bronze were imported from Japan).

Several words of Portuguese language are found in Indian language such as Kamraa, Kameej and Kunji. Tobacco, Maize, Potato, Papaya, Guvava, Alfanso Mango, Hukka and cultivation of Cauliflower are all the contribution of Portuguese.

Catholic Christianity in India was also brought by Poruguese.

In 1565, Portuguese established the first printing machine in India and the first book printed was on medicinal plants.