Test: From Trade to Territory (The Company Establishes Power)- 2

The French were the last of the European powers to enter the eastern trade. The French East India Company was established in 1664. In 1668 the first French factory was established in Surat. The French established their second factory at Masulipatnam in 1669. The French obtained Pondicherry in 1673 and they built Chandranagore in 1690-92. There was rivalry between the French and the British and the Dutch for major share in the eastern trade.

Business enterprise that makes profit primarily through trade, buying goods cheap and selling them at higher process is called mercantile trade. Mercantile trade means the trade of wholesale or retail selling of commodities and any operation supplemental or incidental thereto, including, but not limited to, buying, delivery, maintenance, office, stock and clerical work.

The Dutch East India Company or the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), a chartered company that carried out colonial trade operations in Asia for two centuries, was founded on 20 March 1602.

The last European people to arrive in India were the French. The French East India Company was formed in 1664 AD during the reign of King Louis XIV to trade with India. In 1668 AD the French established their first factory at Surat and in 1669 AD established another French factory at Masaulipatam.

The French East India Company was formed in 1664 AD during the reign of King Louis XIV to trade with India. In 1668 AD the French established their first factory at Surat.

Sir Thomas Roe was an English diplomat of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Roe's voyages ranged from Central America to India; as ambassador, he represented England in the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Holy Roman Empire. He sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1644.

However, it is widely recorded that while the official centre of the present settlement was designated Fort St. George, the British applied the name Madras to a new large city which had grown up around the Fort including the "White Town" consisting principally of British settlers.

In May 1662, King Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, whose family offered a large dowry (a gift made by the father of the bride to the groom). Part of this gift was the Portuguese territory of Bombay. However, Charles II did not want the trouble of ruling these islands and in 1668 persuaded the East India Company to rent them for just 10 pounds of gold a year.

Fort William, citadel of Calcutta (now Kolkata), named for King William III of England. The British East India Company’s main Bengal trading station was moved from Hooghly (now Hugli) to Calcutta in 1690 after a war with the Mughals. Between 1696 and 1702 a fort was built in Calcutta, with the nawab (ruler) of Bengal’s permission.

In 1700 Calcutta became a separate presidency (administrative unit) accountable to London; until 1774 its governors, and thereafter until 1834 its governors-general, were given the added title “of Fort William in Bengal.” In 1756 the fort was taken by Sirāj al-Dawlah, nawab of Bengal. After the recovery of Calcutta (1757), this fort was demolished and a new one constructed farther south, with an unobstructed field of fire. The latter fort, completed in 1773, still stands.

In India, three presidencies were established at Bombay, Madras and Kolkata under a President called Governor General and his Council or Governor in-council. All the powers were lodged into the Governor-in-Council and nothing could be transacted without the majority of the votes in the council.

In 1674, the François Martin of French East India Company established a trading center at Pondicherry, which eventually became the chief French settlement in India. The Dutch captured Pondicherry in 1693 but returned it to France later. The French acquired Mahe in the 1720s, Yanam in 1731, and Karaikal in 1738.

The silk produced in India was very premium quality which had a very big market in Europe.

The spice trade refers to the trade between historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity for commerce in the Eastern World.

Under the Mughal patronage, the British gradually ousted the Portuguese trading venture of Estado da India, which had a massive control of trading in India. This was followed by the setting up of the first factory in Surat by the British, which was then followed by the acquisition of Madras in 1639, Bombay in 1668, and Calcutta in 1690. It is interesting to note that the settlement of Bombay was gained as dowry to Charles II from his bride who received it from the Portuguese crown in 1661 and was handed over to the East India Company. In 1687, Bombay became the headquarters of the west coast, shifting from Surat.

Setting up numerous posts along the eastern and western coast, the most important trading ports were established around Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.

Colonisation is the process by which a country subjugates another country and its economical, social, political powers by military force.

East India Company Starts Its trade In Bengal. In the year 1651, the first English factory was set up on the banks of river Hugli. The then Mughal king, Aurangzeb, issued a farman granting the company the right to trade duty-free.

Duty-free refers to the act of being able to purchase an item in particular circumstances without paying import, sales, value-added or other taxes. Duty-freestores are an enticing perk of international travel.

Murshid Quli Khan, also known as Mohammad Hadi, was the first Nawab of Bengal, serving from 1717 to 1727. Born a Hindu in the Deccan Plateau in c. 1670, Quli Khan was bought by Mughal noble Haji Shafi.

Major-General Robert Clive, also known as Clive of India, Commander-in-Chief of British India, was a British officer and privateer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal.

23 June 1757 . The battle was between Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India Company. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar defeated the Nawab at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta.