Spectrum Test: The Advent of Europeans & Consolidation of British Power in India- 1

• It was the Portuguese who first discovered a direct sea route to India. Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut. After staying in India for three months Vasco da Gama returned with a rich cargo which he sold in the European market at an exorbitant price- 60 times the cost of his voyage. 
• But soon Vasco da Gama came back to India for the second time in 1501 AD. He set up a trading factory at Calicut. With the establishment of trade links, Calicut, Cannanore, and Cochin emerged as the significant Portuguese centres in India.

Additional Information

• The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Kozhikode (Calicut), in Malabar Coast (present day Kerala state of India), on 20 May 1498. The King of Calicut, the Samudiri (Zamorin), who was at that time staying in his second capital at Ponnani, returned to Calicut on hearing the news of the foreign fleet's arrival. 
• The navigator was received with traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000 armed Nairs, but an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any concrete results.

Statement 1: The government of Portuguese India started in 1505, six years after the discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de Almeida, then settled at Kochi.
Statement 2: They established their first factory at Calicut.
Statement 3: The first viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, established his headquarters in Cochin. After 1510, the capital of the Portuguese viceroyalty was transferred to Goa.

Additional Information

• The government of Portuguese India (Portuguese: Índia Portuguesa) started on 12 September 1505, seven years after the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Portuguese viceroy Francisco de Almeida, then settled at Cochin. 
• Until 1752, the name India included all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from Southern Africa to Southeast Asia, governed – either by a viceroy or governor – from its headquarters, established in Old Goa since 1510.

• The next important Portuguese governor was Nuno da Cunha. During his time, the ruler of Gujarat was Bahadur Shah. 
• In 1529, Nuno was able to sack Daman and Diu (Damao), which were territories of Bahadur Shah.
• Later in 1534, he was able to compel Bahadur Shah to sign the treaty of Bassein. Based on the treaty of Bassein, Bahadur shah gave Bassein (modern Vasai and Nallasopara in Mumbai Suburbs) to the Portuguese.

Fig: Nino da Cunha

Additional Information
In 1529, Nuno sent an expedition that sacked and burned the city of Damão on the Arabian Sea at the mouth of the Damão River, about 100 miles north of Mumbai in the Muslim state of Gujarat. Forces under his control captured Baxay (now Vasai, often mistaken for Basra in Iraq) from the Muslim ruler of Gujarat, Bahadur Shah, on January 20, 1533.

• In 1639, Francis Dey obtained the site of Madras from the Raja of Chandragiri with permission to build a fortified factory, which was named Fort St. George. 
• The East India Company’s original trading station in south India was at Masulipatam, established in 1611. 
• It was moved to Madras, where permission to build a fort was obtained from the raja of Chandragiri in 1639, mainly because it was nearer the weaving centres from which the company obtained goods for export to Persia and the East Indies.

Additional information

• The Raja Mahal Palace is now an archaeological museum. The fort and palace are in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India. The palace is open to the public, but the fort is closed. The palace is an example of Indo-Saracenic architecture of the Vijayanagara period. 
• The palace was constructed using stone, brick, lime mortar and devoid of timber. The crowning towers represent the Hindu architectural elements.

• The French Indian Settlements (or French India) included Pondicherry (now Puducherry), Karaikal and Yanaon on the Coromandel Coast, Mahe on the Malabar Coast, and Chandernagore in West Bengal. Other than this, there were lodges in Machilipatnam, Kozhikode, and Surat.

Additional Information

• The prosperity of Chandannagar as a French colony started soon after. At this time the Company establishment consisted of 1 Director, and 5 members who formed a council, 15 merchants and shopkeepers, 2 notaries, 2 padres, 2 doctors and 1 Sutradhar. The army consisted of 130-foot soldiers, 20 among them were native Indians. 
• The Fort d'Orleans was constructed in the year 1696-97 and was better defended than its French and British counterparts. After the initial success the French trade languished due to the lax policy of its Directors.

• In 1780, James Augustus Hickey published the first newspaper in India entitled The Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser.
• Hickey’s press was seized within two years, owing to his outspoken criticism of government officials.

Additional Information
Hickey began publication of Hicky's Bengal Gazette on 29 January 1780, having first printed a prospectus announcing that he would begin printing a newspaper. The idea of printing a newspaper in India had been floated twelve years earlier by the Dutch Adventurer William Bolts, but Hickey was the first to execute the concept.

Sugarcane was already cultivated in India. Potato, tomato, tobacco, and maize were introduced from South America by the Portuguese.

Additional Information

• Chilli is a fruit of the plant 'Capsicum annuum and capsicum frutecens' that come from the genus capsicum belonging to the family of Solanaceae which also includes tomato and potato.
• The spread of Chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders, who aware of its trade value would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders.
• Portuguese and Spanish traders introduced the Chilli pepper in Africa, India in Asia.

• Vasco Da Gama was received at Calicut port. The Portuguese explorer was not greeted warmly by the Muslim merchants of Calicut, and in 1499 he had to fight his way out of the harbor on his return trip home.
• In 1502, he led a squadron of ships to Calicut to avenge the massacre of Portuguese explorers there and succeeded in subduing the inhabitants.
• The Company was not welcome, and in 1611 it asked King James to send an ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, to visit the Mughal Emperor, Jahangir. The Emperor ruled over a prosperous civilization that produced many goods and had many different religions (the Mughals were Muslim).

Additional Information

• The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Kozhikode (Calicut), in Malabar Coast (present day Kerala state of India), on 20 May 1498.
• The King of Calicut, the Samudiri (Zamorin), who was at that time staying in his second capital at Ponnani, returned to Calicut on hearing the news of the foreign fleet's arrival.

The navigator was received with traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000 armed Nairs, but an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any concrete results.

• The Calico Act banned the import of most cotton textiles into England, followed by the restriction of the sale of most cotton textiles. It was a form of economic protectionism, largely in response to India (particularly Bengal), which dominated world cotton textile markets at the time. 
• The Act was a precursor to the Industrial Revolution when Britain eventually surpassed India as the world’s leading textile manufacturer in the 19th century.

Additional Information

• The Calico Acts (1700, 1721) banned the import of most cotton textiles into England, followed by the restriction of sale of most cotton textiles.
• It was a form of economic protectionism, largely in response to India (particularly Bengal), which dominated world cotton textile markets at the time.

• The Danes formed an East India Company and arrived in India in 1616 AD.
• They established settlements at Tranquebar (in Tamil Nadu) in 1620 AD and Serampore (Bengal) in 1676 AD.
• However, they failed to strengthen themselves in India and were forced to sell all their settlements in India to the British.

Additional Information

• The success of Dutch and English traders in the 17th century spice trade was a source of envy among Danish and Norwegian merchants. On March 17, 1616, Christian IV the King of Denmark-Norway, issued a charter creating a Danish East India Company with a monopoly on trade between Denmark-Norway and Asia for 12 years.
• It would take an additional two years before sufficient capital had been raised to finance the expedition, perhaps due to lack of confidence on the part of Danish investors.