British First Landed On Indian Territory

For hundreds of years, our country was colonized and ruled by the British, inflicting hundreds of problems among us, dividing the country on various grounds and exploiting the resources, both human and natural, for their benefit. The arrival of the British wasn’t directly to rule but to trade. Let’s trace when and why the British first landed on Indian territory.  When Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut in 1498, he discovered a sea route between Europe and India. As a result, India became the focus of Europe's commerce circuit, and European nations flocked to Asia to establish commercial stations of their own, and Sea routes started becoming popular.

Even though trade was initially the primary motivation, European nations gradually became more interested in acquiring territory. One of these powers eager for money and action was the United Kingdom.

The British East India Company arrived in India as spice dealers, a valuable product in Europe at the time since it was used to preserve meat. They arrived in the Indian subcontinent on August 24, 1608, in the port of Surat. In 1613, Mughal Emperor Jahangir granted Captain William Hawkins a ‘Farman’, allowing the English to build a factory in Surat. This was the time when the British cashed in on the opportunity and the black phase for the Indian sub-continent started, which lasted for over 150 years. 

How was the British East India Company Formed?

On September 22, 1599, a group of merchants convened and pledged £30,133 to "enter into the alleged expedition to the East Indies (if it may please the Lord to prosper), and the sums that they will adventure." Two days later, "the Adventurers" got together again and decided to approach the Queen for help with the project. Even though their first attempt had been a failure, they sought the Queen's unofficial assent to continue. They boosted their money to £68,373 by purchasing ships for their operation.

To answer the question of how was the British East India Company formed, we need to look back to 1599. In 1559, the British East India Company was formed. John Watts and George White formed the British Joint Stock Company, or BJSC, for trading with Asian nations in the south and south-east. This joint-stock firm was owned by British merchants and aristocracy. The British government had no control over the corporation and had no direct relationship with it.

The Court of Directors, which consisted of one governor and 24 directors or "committees," was in charge of the company's governance. They reported back to the Court of Proprietors, which had appointed them. The Court of Directors received reports from ten committees. According to legend, business was first conducted at the Nags Head Inn in Bishopsgate, just across from St Botolph's church, before moving to India House in Leadenhall Streat.

Why British First Landed on Indian Territory?

On August 24, 1608, the British landed at Surat, India. While India has a long and documented history dating back to the Indus Valley Civilisation in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, Britain did not have an indigenous written language until the 9th century, some 3000 years after India. They had more economic power, better weapons, and a sense of European confidence, which allowed them to progressively infiltrate the Indian subcontinent and eventually rule the vast country. 

Soon after, the Vijayanagara Empire granted the corporation permission to construct a plant in Madras, and the British firm began to eclipse the other European trading firms in terms of strength. Several commercial posts sprang up along India's east and west coastlines, and British settlements sprang up in the three principal trading cities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.

Influence and Power of British

The influence and power of the British grew in the early years of India. In 1690, Job Charnock, Kolkata's founder, opened a factory in the Sultanate. When the British seized the zamindari of three villages, Suttanati, Kalikata, and Govindpur, Calcutta was eventually created in 1698. Fort William was built soon after, in 1700.

In 1717, John Surman secured a Farman from Farrukhsiyar, which provided the corporation with significant concessions. This Farman has been dubbed the British East India Company's finest victory.

How did the British East India Company enter into Indian Politics?

The early East India Company recognised that India was a jumble of provincial rulers and sought to consolidate all of the country's riches. As a result, the corporation began to engage in Indian politics, and its wealth began to rise steadily. The defeat of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah, by Robert Clive in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 was the British's first major strike on India. At the Battle of Buxar in 1764, Captain Munro beat the united forces of Bengal's Mir Qasim, Awadh's Shuja Ud Daula, and Mughal king Shah Alam II. Slowly but steadily, the East India Business transitioned from a trade to a ruling company.

How was the British East India Company able to Gain Complete Monopoly?

The company's success allowed its officers to return to Britain and create huge estates and enterprises, as well as gain political power. In the English parliament, the corporation established a lobby. Deregulation legislation was passed in 1694 in response to demand from ambitious tradesmen and former associates of the corporation who wished to create private trading firms in India. 

This authorised any English corporation to trade with India unless specifically barred by the act of parliament, effectively nullifying the almost century-old charter. When the East India Company Act of 1697 was passed, a new "parallel" East India Company was established with a £2 million state-backed indemnity. The previous company's prominent stockholders immediately invested £315,000 in the new organisation, gaining control of the new entity. For a long time, the two corporations competed for a dominant portion of the commerce in both England and India.

It was rapidly apparent that the initial corporation experienced almost no significant competition in practice. The firms amalgamated in 1708 by a tripartite indenture including both the companies and the state, with Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, awarding the charter and agreement for the new United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies. The amalgamated business agreed to lend £3,200,000 to the Treasury in exchange for exclusive advantages for the next three years, after which the situation would be reassessed. The newly formed United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies was named after the merger.

With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, Britain leapfrogged its European competitors. The need to sustain the troops and the economy throughout the war, as well as improved availability of raw materials and efficient techniques of manufacturing, raised the demand for Indian commodities. Britain benefited from increased living standards as the birthplace of the revolution. Its ever-increasing cycle of wealth, demand, and production had a significant impact on international trade. The corporation grew to become the leading participant in the British global market.

British Rule in India - The Times of Colonization:

From 1858 until 1947, the British Crown ruled over the Indian subcontinent under the British Raj. In India, the rule is also known as the Crown rule or direct rule. In contemporaneous use, the region under British administration was referred to as India, and it encompassed both areas directly managed by the United Kingdom, known as British India, and areas ruled by indigenous monarchs but under British subsidiary alliance or paramountcy, known as princely states. Though not formally, the region was known as the Indian Empire.

It was also a founding member of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945.  The British Raj lasted until 1947, when it was divided into two sovereign dominion states: the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan.

End of East India Company:

In 1874, the East India Company was formally ended by an Act of Parliament. Thus came the British Raj, the British state's direct imperial dominion over India.