• The English East India Company defeated the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, marking the beginning of British rule in India.
• However, Europeans had arrived in India by the early sixteenth century.
• Their initial plan was to obtain pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and other spices for European markets while also participating in Indian Ocean trade.
• The Portuguese were the first Europeans to colonise India.
• At the end of the fifteenth century, Vasco da Gama discovered a direct sea route from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope.
• In 1510, the Portuguese conquered Goa on India''s west coast.
• Goa then became the Portuguese political headquarters in India, as well as further east in Malacca and Java.

Start of Trade by Portuguese

• The Portuguese perfected a pattern of controlling the Indian Ocean trade through a combination of political aggressiveness and naval superiority.
• Their forts at Daman and Diu allowed them to control shipping in the Arabian Sea with their well-armed ships.
• Other European nations that arrived in India nearly a century later, particularly the Dutch and the English, followed the Portuguese model.
• Thus, we must understand the arrival of European trading companies as an ongoing process of engagement with Indian political authorities, local merchants, and society, culminating in the British conquest of Bengal in 1757.

Advent of Europeans in India

The Portuguese (1505 - 1961)

Advent of Portuguese

• Vasco da Gama discovered a direct sea route to India in 1498, making the Portuguese the first Europeans to visit India.
• In Cannanore, he established a trading factory. Calicut, Cannanore, and Cochin gradually became important Portuguese trading centres.
• Goa was captured in 1510 by Alfonso de Albuquerque, governor of the Portuguese possessions in India. By the end of the 16th century, they had taken control of Daman, Diu, and a vast coastal region.
• Their monopoly on trade with India, however, did not last long because they were unable to compete with more powerful European powers—the Dutch and the British—who came with the same motive as the Portuguese.

Decline of Portuguese

• By the 18th century, the Portuguese had lost their commercial influence in India, though some of them continued to trade on their own, and many turned to piracy and robbery.
• In fact, some Portuguese used the Hooghly as a base for piracy in the Bay of Bengal. Several factors contributed to the Portuguese decline.
• The Portuguese''s local advantages in India were eroded by the rise of powerful dynasties in Egypt, Persia, and North India, as well as the turbulent Marathas as their immediate neighbours. (The Marathas took Salsette and Bassein from the Portuguese in 1739.)
• Political fears were raised by the Portuguese religious policies, such as the activities of the Jesuits.
• Apart from their animosity toward Muslims, Hindus were also resentful of the Portuguese policy of conversion to Christianity. Their dishonest business practises elicited a strong reaction as well.
• The Portuguese gained a reputation as sea pirates.
• Their arrogance and violence earned them the ire of small-state rulers as well as the imperial Mughals.
• The discovery of Brazil diverted Portugal''s colonial activities to the West.
• The union of the two kingdoms of Spain and Portugal in 1580-81, which dragged the smaller kingdom into Spain''s wars with England and Holland, had a negative impact on the Portuguese trade monopoly in India.
• The Portuguese''s earlier monopoly on knowledge of the sea route to India could not last forever; soon enough, the Dutch and English, who were learning ocean navigation skills, learned of it as well.
• As new European trading communities arrived in India, a fierce rivalry developed. The Portuguese had to give way to more powerful and enterprising competitors in this struggle.
• The Dutch and English had more resources and compulsions to expand overseas, and they overcame Portuguese opposition. The Portuguese possessions fell to its opponents one by one.
• Goa, which remained in Portuguese hands, had lost its importance as a port after the fall of the Vijayanagara empire, and it soon didn''t matter who owned it.
• The spice trade was taken over by the Dutch, and Goa was surpassed as the economic centre of Portugal''s overseas empire by Brazil. After two naval assaults, the Marathas invaded Goa in 1683.

The Dutch (1602 - 1759)

Advent of Dutch

• In 1605, the Dutch (people from the Netherlands) arrived in India and established their first factory in Masaulipatam, Andhra Pradesh.
• They not only threatened Portuguese possessions in India, but also the commercial interests of the British, who desired a trade monopoly over India.
• A compromise between the British and the Dutch was reached in 1623. As a result, the Dutch withdrew their claim to India, while the British withdrew their claim to Indonesia.

Decline of Dutch

• The Dutch became involved in the Malay Archipelago trade.
• Furthermore, during the third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74), communications between Surat and the new English settlement of Bombay were severed, resulting in the capture of three homebound English ships in the Bay of Bengal by Dutch forces.
• The English retaliation resulted in the Dutch defeat at the Battle of Hooghly (November 1759), dealing a crushing blow to Dutch ambitions in India.
• The Dutch were not interested in establishing an empire in India; their primary concern was trade.
• In any case, their main commercial interest was in the Spice Islands of Indonesia, where they made a fortune through business.

The English (1599 - 1947)

Advent of English

• In 1600 AD, Queen Elizabeth granted the East India Company, founded by a group of English merchants, exclusive trade rights in the East.
• Jahangir granted the Company permission to establish factories along the western coast in 1608.
• The Company was granted free trade throughout the Mughal Empire in 1615. The Company''s commercial activities were rapidly expanding.
• However, its continuous rise was constantly challenged by the Portuguese and Dutch, and later by the French.
• Over time, the Company gained a foothold in Western and Southern India, and later in Eastern India.
• Taking advantage of political instability, the insecurity of Indian rulers, and the decline of the Mughal Empire, the East India Company transformed itself from a commercial to a political entity.

The French (1664 - 1760)

Advent of French

• The French were the last to arrive in India looking for trade opportunities. The French East India Company established its first factory in Surat, Gujarat, in 1668.
• The French Company gradually established factories in various parts of India, particularly along the coast.
• The French East India Company''s important trading centres included Mahe, Karaikal, Balasor, Qasim Bazar, and others.
• The French, like the English, began to seek political dominance in Southern India. As a result, the English East India Company and the French East India Company were constantly at odds.
• The rivalry lasted many years, and three long battles were fought between the British and the French over a 20-year period (1744-1763) with the goal of gaining commercial and territorial control.
• The French dream of political dominance over India was dashed in 1763 with their defeat at the Battle of Wandiwash. The English East India Company had no rivals in India after defeating the French.

Decline of French

• Because of its trade superiority, the English East India Company was the wealthier of the two.
• EIC possessed superior naval strength. They could bring in soldiers from Europe as well as supplies from Bengal. The French had no such means of replenishing resources.
• Its possessions in India had been held for a longer period of time, and they were better fortified and more prosperous.
• The French Company was heavily reliant on the French government.
• Dupleix''s Mistakes: Dupleix did not pay attention to improving the company''s finances, did not concentrate his efforts in one place, and did not seek support from the French government to carry out his plans.
• The English had three important ports, namely Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, which gave them an advantage in almost every aspect, be it trade or naval power, whereas the French had only one port, namely Pondicherry.
• The British gained access to a rich area, Bengal, after winning the Battle of Plassey.
• The British army had many capable soldiers, including Robert Clive, Stringer Lawrence, and Sir Eyre Coote.

Reasons for Success of English against Other European Powers

1. Nature and Structure of Trading Companies

• The English East India Company was governed by a board of directors, whose members were elected on an annual basis, and the company''s shareholders wielded considerable power.
• France and Portugal''s trading companies were largely owned by the state, and their nature was feudalistic in many ways.

2. Naval Supremacy

• The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom was not only the largest, but also the most advanced at the time.
• Because of the strength and speed of their naval ships, the British were able to defeat the Portuguese and the French in India as well.
• The English learned the importance of an efficient navy from the Portuguese and technologically improved their own fleet.

3. The Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution began in England in the early 18th century, with the invention of new machines such as the spinning jenny, steam engine, power loom, and others.
• These machines significantly increased productivity in textile, metallurgy, steam power, and agriculture.
• The industrial revolution arrived late in other European nations, allowing England to maintain its hegemony.

4. Military Competence and Discipline

• The British soldiers were disciplined and well-trained. The British commanders were strategists who experimented with new military tactics.
• The military was well-equipped due to technological advancements.
• All of this combined to allow smaller groups of English fighters to defeat larger armies.

5. Government Stability​

• With the exception of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Britain experienced a stable government with efficient monarchs.
• Other European nations, such as France, experienced a violent revolution in 1789, followed by the Napoleonic Wars.
• Napoleon''s defeat in 1815 significantly weakened France''s position, and the Dutch and Spain were also involved in the 80-year war in the 17th century, which weakened Portuguese imperialism.

6. Less Religious Enthusiasm

• When compared to Spain, Portugal, or the Dutch, Britain was less religiously zealous and less interested in spreading Christianity.
• As a result, its rule was far more acceptable to the subjects than that of other colonial powers.

7. Using the Debt Market

• One of the major and innovative reasons why Britain succeeded between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, while other European nations failed, was its use of debt markets to fund its wars.
• The Bank of England, the world''s first central bank, was established to sell government debt to money markets in exchange for a decent return on Britain''s defeat of rival countries such as France and Spain.
• As a result, Britain was able to spend far more on its military than its competitors.
• Britain''s rival France could not match the English expenditure; between 1694 and 1812, France simply went bankrupt with its outdated methods of raising money, first under monarchs, then under revolutionary governments, and finally under Napoleon Bonaparte.

In India, a fierce national resistance against British imperialism arose in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. This conflict arose from a misalignment of interests between the Indian people and the British rulers. The nature of foreign control sparked nationalistic feelings among Indians, ripening the material, moral, intellectual, and political conditions for the emergence and development of a great national movement.