From East India Company to British Rule

The British first entered India in 1599 AD and started their company after they received the royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I on December 31 1600 AD permitting them to trade in the east.

In 1608 AD, the East India Company sent Captain William Hawkins to the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir to secure royal patronage. He succeeded in getting a royal permit for the Company to establish its factories at various places on the Western coast of India. The first factory was established in Surat in 1612 and its name was Fort saint George later they expanded their companies in different parts of India. The British became the leading exporters of spices in India . At that time the British were not interested in doing trade with the ruling class of India, But they were more interested in competing with French, Dutch and Portuguese. Who were also doing trade in east India.

Then in 1615 AD, Sir Thomas Roe was sent by Emperor James I of England to Jahangir’s court, with a plea for more concessions for the Company. Roe was very diplomatic and thus successfully secured a royal charter giving the Company freedom to trade in the whole of the Mughal territory.

In 1643 Jahanara Begum, the favorite daughter of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, was severely burnt when her clothing caught fire in an accident during a dance performance. Local and the royal doctors were not able to cure her, therefore, at the advice of his minister Assad Khan, the Emperor requested an English surgeon. The council of Surat recommended Gabriel Boughton, the surgeon of the EIC ( east India company )ship The Hopewell, as best-qualified for attending to the Princess and sent him to Deccan, where the emperor had his camp. Boughton was successful in healing her and in return, was asked to name his reward. His request was for the EIC to be granted the privilege and license of founding factories in Bengal and of trading there freely, without the requirement to pay duty. This was another step forward for the British.

With the commencement of the 18th century the British became more interested in the political affairs of India. At that time the Mughal empire was facing bad times because they were suffering various invasions from Persians, Afghan and Indians as well .

The east India company soon realized that India is filled with resources and now the British were more interested in concentrating on those resources.

The first big strike from the British on India was made under the command of Robert Clive in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 ,which resulted in the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-dualah the British , because his own companion Mir Jafar betrayed him.

With the defeat of Siraj-ud-dualah the British became more powerful and gained more control in India. Now slowly but surely, the East India Company started to transform from a trading company to a ruling one.But this interruption was not accepted by Indians and they wanted British to leave from India ,so they planned a revolt against British, But the emperor of India Bahadur Shah Zafar was not in favor of this revolt, he said we will not be able to win this from British. But Indians were not in the mood to fall back. And the great revolt took place in 1857. But the British won the war. Now there was nothing in between the British rule in India.

After the defeat in the great revolt of 1857, the last emperor of India Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to Rangoon where he spent the last years of his life.

The British ruled India for more or less 200 years….And the British rule ended in 1947.

Related posts:

You must have seen QR codes on many products. When you scan them, It shows item price, product descriptions or design details, etc. What if you are working as a graphic designer, and your clients…

While more and more texts are available online, we simply do not have the human power to read and study them. We need new computational tools to help organize, search, and understand these vast…

Era o terceiro round e as pessoas que assistiam estavam todas em pé, tentando ver por ângulos melhores o que o combate proporcionava. Um deles tentava seguir uma estratégia de longa distância…