From Trade to Territory Summary Class 8 NCERT Summary Chapter 2

End of Mughal Empire

• Aurangzeb was the last significant Mughal ruler.
• After his death in 1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and powerful landowners (zamindars) began to assert their power, forming regional kingdoms. This meant that Delhi could no longer serve as an effective centre of authority.

East India Company Comes East

• Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, discovered the sea route to India in 1498.
• The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in India.
• By the time the first English ships sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and crossed the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had already established their base in Goa on India's western coast.
• In 1600, the East India Company received a charter from Queen Elizabeth I, allowing it the exclusive right to trade with the East, meaning no other trading group in England could compete with it.
• By the early seventeenth century, the Dutch and the French also began to explore trade opportunities in the Indian Ocean.
• All trading companies were interested in similar goods, such as cotton, silk, pepper, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon, which led to competition and reduced profits.
• The desire to secure markets resulted in fierce battles between the trading companies.
• The royal charter could not stop other European powers from entering the Eastern markets.
• The Company did not have to worry about competition from other English trading companies.

East India Company begins trade in Bengal

• In 1651, the first English factory was established on the banks of the river Hugli. This served as the base for the Company's traders, known as 'factors'. The factory included a warehouse for storing goods meant for export and offices for Company officials.
• As trade grew, the Company encouraged merchants and traders to settle near the factory. It also convinced the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman, allowing the Company to trade without duties.
• By 1696, the Company began constructing a fort around the settlement.
• In 1698, it bribed Mughal officials to obtain zamindari rights over three villages, including Kalikata, which later became known as Calcutta or Kolkata.

How trade led to battles

• After the death of Aurangzeb, the Bengal nawabs asserted their power and autonomy.

The Battle of Plassey

• In 1756, Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal after the death of Alivardi Khan.
• The Company was concerned about Sirajuddaulah's growing power and preferred a puppet ruler who would grant trade concessions. It attempted, but failed, to support one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals to become the nawab.
• In response, Sirajuddaulah demanded that the Company stop meddling in his territory, halt fortification, and pay its dues.
• When talks failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000 troops to the English factory at Kassimbazar, capturing Company officials, locking the warehouse, disarming Englishmen, and blockading their ships.
  • He then advanced to Calcutta to assert his authority over the Company’s fort.
• Upon hearing of Calcutta's fall, Company officials in Madras sent forces led by Robert Clive.
• In 1757, Robert Clive commanded the Company's army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. A key factor in the Nawab's defeat was that Mir Jafar, one of his commanders, did not engage in the battle. Clive had secured Jafar's support by promising to make him nawab after defeating Sirajuddaulah.
• The Battle of Plassey is notable as it marked the Company’s first major victory in India.
• Following his defeat, Sirajuddaulah was assassinated, and Mir Jafar became the nawab. However, the Company was reluctant to take on administrative duties, focusing primarily on expanding trade.
• Mir Jafar passed away in 1765. By then, the Company's attitude had shifted. After struggling with puppet nawabs, Clive proclaimed, “We must indeed become nawabs ourselves.”
• Ultimately, in 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of Bengal. This role allowed the Company to tap into Bengal's vast revenue resources, resolving a significant issue it faced earlier. The outflow of gold from Britain decreased after the Battle of Plassey and ceased entirely after assuming the Diwani, enabling revenues from India to cover Company expenses.

Company officials become “nabobs”

• After the Battle of Plassey, the genuine nawabs of Bengal were compelled to provide land and substantial sums of money as personal gifts to Company officials.
• Many officials, including Clive, amassed great wealth; however, not all were successful in this regard.
• Those who returned to Britain with riches lived extravagantly and displayed their wealth. They were referred to as “nabobs,” an anglicised form of the Indian word nawab.

Company Rule Expands

• Following the Battle of Buxar (1764), the Company appointed Residents in various Indian states.
• Through the Residents, Company officials began to interfere in the internal affairs of these states.
• At times, the Company coerced states into a “subsidiary alliance.”
  • Under this arrangement, Indian rulers were prohibited from maintaining independent armed forces.
  • They would be protected by the Company but had to pay substantial amounts for this protection.
  • If they failed to make these payments, the Company would seize parts of their territory.

Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”

• Mysore became powerful under the rule of leaders like Haidar Ali (1761-1782) and his son Tipu Sultan (1782-1799). Mysore was in charge of the valuable trade along the Malabar coast, where the Company bought pepper and cardamom.
• In 1785, Tipu Sultan halted the export of sandalwood, pepper, and cardamom from his kingdom's ports and forbade local merchants from trading with the Company.
• The British were very angry. They viewed Haidar and Tipu as ambitious, arrogant, and a threat that needed to be controlled.
• Four wars were fought with Mysore (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92, and 1799).
  • The Company only won in the last war - the Battle of Shrirangapatnam.
• Tipu Sultan died while defending his capital, Shrirangapatnam, in Mysore.
• Mysore was returned to the previous ruling family, the Wodeyars, and a subsidiary alliance was enforced on the state.

War with the Marathas

• After losing the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Marathas' ambition to rule from Delhi was crushed. They became fragmented into various states led by different chiefs (sardars) from dynasties like Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad, and Bhonsle.
  • These chiefs were united under a Peshwa (Principal Minister), who served as the main military and administrative leader based in Pune.
• Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis were notable Maratha leaders and military figures from the late eighteenth century.
• The Anglo-Maratha wars were conflicts between the Marathas and the British.
  • The first war concluded in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, resulting in no clear winner.
  • The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05) led to the British acquiring Orissa and territories north of the Yamuna River, including Agra and Delhi.
  • The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-19) dismantled Maratha power, resulted in the removal of the Peshwa, and granted the British complete control over the regions south of the Vindhyas.

The claim to paramountcy

• During Lord Hastings' time as Governor-General from 1813 to 1823, a new policy of “paramountcy”was established, asserting that British power surpassed that of Indian states.
  • To protect its interests, the British believed they could annex or threaten any Indian kingdom. This perspective influenced subsequent British policies.
• In the late 1830s, the East India Company grew concerned about Russia potentially expanding into Asia and entering India from the north-west. This fear prompted the British to reinforce their control over the north-west region.
• A long war with Afghanistan occurred between 1838 and 1842, which resulted in the establishment of indirect Company rule there.
• The region of Sind was annexed in 1843.
• After Maharaja Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, two significant wars were fought with the Sikh kingdom, leading to Punjab's annexation in 1849.
• This expansion faced resistance. For instance, when the British attempted to annex the small state of Kitoor (now in Karnataka), Rani Channamma led a rebellion against them. She was arrested in 1824 and died in prison in 1829. However, Rayanna, a poor chowkidar from Sangoli in Kitoor, continued the fight, rallying popular support to destroy many British camps and records. He was captured and hanged by the British in 1830. More examples of resistance will be covered later in the book.

The Doctrine of Lapse

• Lord Dalhousie served as the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856 and introduced a policy known as the Doctrine of Lapse.
  • This policy stated that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir, their kingdom would “lapse,” meaning it would become part of Company territory.
• Many kingdoms were annexed using this doctrine:
  • Satara in 1848
  • Sambalpur in 1850
  • Udaipur in 1852
  • Nagpur in 1853
  • Jhansi in 1854
  • Awadh in 1856.
• This time, the British added another reason—they claimed they were "obliged by duty" to take over Awadh to rescue the people from the "misgovernment" of the Nawab!

Setting up a New Administration

• Warren Hastings served as Governor-General from 1773 to 1785 and was a key figure in expanding the Company's influence. By this time, the Company had gained control in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras.
• The British territories were organised into administrative units known as Presidencies, which included:
  • Bengal
  • Madras
  • Bombay
• Each Presidency was governed by a Governor, while the overall head was the Governor-General. Hastings, as the first Governor-General, introduced several reforms, especially in the justice system.
• A new justice system was set up starting in 1772.
• Every district was to have two types of courts:
  • A criminal court (faujdari adalat)
  • A civil court (diwani adalat)
• In the civil courts, Maulvis and Hindu pandits explained Indian laws for the European district collectors who presided over these courts.
• The criminal courts were overseen by a qazi and a mufti, but under the guidance of the collectors.
• Qazi. A judge.
• Mufti. A legal expert in the Muslim community who interprets the law administered by the qazi.
• The primary duty was to collect taxes and maintain law and order in the district, working alongside judges, police officers, and darogas.
• The Regulating Act of 1773 established a new Supreme Court, and a court of appeal called the Sadar Nizamat Adalat was set up in Calcutta.

The Company army

• As military technology changed from the 1820s, the need for cavalry in the Company's army decreased.
• The soldiers had to adapt to evolving military needs, making infantry regiments more significant.
• In the early 1800s, the British started to create a standard military culture.
• Soldiers faced increasing European-style training, drills, and discipline, which regulated their lives much more than before. This often led to issues, as caste and community identities were overlooked in forming a professional army.
• How did the sepoys feel? What was their reaction to the changes in their lives and identities?
• The introduction of new steam technology in the early 1800s also supported this shift.

Conclusion

• The East India Company changed from a trading entity to a territorial colonial power.
• By 1857, the Company directly governed about 63 percent of the land and 78 percent of the people in the Indian subcontinent. Together with its indirect control over the rest, the East India Company effectively ruled nearly all of India.