European Inroads in South Asia

Four Perspectives on History

• political: relating to government

• economic: relating to goods and services

• social: relating to society; focus on class, race, gender, work, etc. relationships

• cultural/intellectual: relating to customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits

Early European Contact

• 1498: Portugal’s Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut

• 1510: Goa becomes Portuguese base in India

• 1542: Jesuit missionaries arrive in Goa

• Ralph Fitch fans British interest in India: “Here be many merchants of all nations.”

• 1600: Queen Elizabeth grants East India Company (EIC) charter

• 1602: Dutch EIC established

• 1608: British EIC lands at Surat

• 1612: Br EIC convoy with cannon chases Portuguese fleet from Surat

• British power increases, Portuguese influence wanes

European Integration

• European traders worked through local systems

• “collaboration”: varied forms of cooperation between South Asians and Europeans

• e.g. Ananda Ranga Pillai (Hay reading) working with French

Growth of British East India Company

• new mid 17^th c charters: coining money, jurisdiction over English subjects, waging war

• EIC maintained presence through small garrisons of soldiers

• but preferred to rely on Indian rulers’ protection

• attempts to use force in 1680s put down by Aurangzeb

• 1690: British establish base at Calcutta

Continued European Growth and Conflict

• French East India Company founded 1664

• 1674: French establish base at Pondicherry

• mid-1600s: EIC legalizes “country trade,” allowing massive private profits for some

• 1720s: EIC presence in Bengal well-established

• rise of nabobs: men like Dupleix

• 1746: British and French clash at Madras, which French take over

• Dupleix defeats nawab of the Carnatic at Madras, shifting Indian balance of power

Click here for map of towns of significance for this period.