Advent of Europeans in India

§1 — Sequence of Arrival: Quick Reference

Sequence of European Arrival in India

The order in which European powers reached India and obtained royal charters is the single most-tested fact of this topic. The mnemonic is "PDF — Don't Forget" — Portuguese, Dutch, French; the English fall between the Dutch and French in chartering but reached India before either commercial rival.

§2 — The Portuguese in India

The Portuguese (1498–1961)

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in India by sea and the last to leave (Goa was liberated only in 1961, fourteen years after Indian independence).

Vasco da Gama (1498)

Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon on 8 July 1497 and reached Calicut on the Malabar Coast on 20 May 1498. His pilot from Malindi (East Africa) — Abdul Majid (also called Ibn Majid) — guided him across the Arabian Sea. Da Gama was received by the Hindu Zamorin (Samudri Raja) of Calicut. The voyage opened the Cape route to India, ending the Arab-Venetian monopoly on Indian trade.

Pedro Álvares Cabral (1500) and Subsequent Voyages

The second Portuguese expedition was led by Pedro Álvares Cabral (1500), who established a factory at Cochin with the help of the Raja of Cochin (an enemy of the Zamorin of Calicut). Vasco da Gama himself returned in 1502.

Francisco de Almeida (1505–1509) — First Viceroy

Francisco de Almeida was the first Portuguese Viceroy in India. He pursued the famous Blue Water Policy (Cartaze system) — Portuguese power should rest on naval supremacy, not on territorial conquests on land. He defeated a combined Egyptian–Gujarat fleet at the Battle of Diu (3 February 1509), securing Portuguese maritime dominance in the Indian Ocean.

Afonso de Albuquerque (1509–1515) — The Real Founder

Afonso de Albuquerque is often regarded as the real founder of Portuguese power in the East. His achievements include:

• Capture of Goa from Bijapur (Yusuf Adil Shah) — 1510. Goa replaced Cochin as the Portuguese headquarters.
• Capture of Malacca (1511) and Hormuz (1515) — controlling the eastern and western chokepoints of the Indian Ocean trade.
• Encouraged Portuguese soldiers to marry local women — the Casado policy (precursor to the Goan Catholic community).
• Abolished sati in Portuguese-held areas (one of the earliest such bans in India).

Nino da Cunha (1529–1538)

Nino da Cunha shifted the Portuguese capital from Cochin to Goa in 1530. He acquired Diu and Bassein from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (1534, after Mughal pressure). In 1534 the Portuguese also got Bombay from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat — Bombay was later handed by Portugal to England in 1661 as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to Charles II.

Decline of Portuguese Power

By the early 17th century, Portuguese power waned because of: (i) the rise of the more efficient Dutch and English Companies; (ii) the union of Portugal and Spain (1580–1640) drew Portuguese resources into European wars; (iii) religious intolerance of the Goa Inquisition alienated local converts and rulers; (iv) the small size of Portugal's metropolitan population. The Portuguese remained at Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli until 1961.

§3 — The Dutch in India

The Dutch — Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), 1602

The Dutch East India Company (VOC — Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) was chartered on 20 March 1602. It was the world's first multinational joint-stock company and one of the most successful trading enterprises in history. Its primary focus was the spice trade of the Indonesian archipelago (Java, Sumatra, Moluccas), with India as a secondary theatre — chiefly for cotton textiles and indigo.

Dutch Factories in India

Decline: Battle of Bedara (1759)

The Dutch lost their final fight for influence in Bengal at the Battle of Bedara (Hooghly) in 1759. Robert Clive's forces decisively defeated a Dutch expedition that had been invited by Mir Jafar to counterbalance British dominance after Plassey. After Bedara, Dutch ambitions in India were effectively over. They concentrated on Indonesia until the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 swapped most of their remaining Indian factories for British holdings in the East Indies.

§4 — The English East India Company

The English East India Company (1600)

The English East India Company was incorporated by Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600 — under the title "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies". The charter granted a monopoly on English trade east of the Cape of Good Hope.

Early Voyages and the Battle of Swally (1612)

The first commander, Captain William Hawkins, reached Surat in 1608 and visited the Mughal court of Jahangir in 1609 — but Portuguese opposition prevented a factory. The breakthrough came in 1612 when Captain Thomas Best defeated the Portuguese at the Battle of Swally (off Surat), demonstrating English naval superiority. Jahangir granted the English permission to set up a factory at Surat in 1613.

Sir Thomas Roe (1615–1619)

Sir Thomas Roe was the ambassador of King James I to the Mughal court of Jahangir. He arrived in 1615 and stayed at Ajmer/Mandu/Ahmedabad. He obtained imperial farmans permitting English trade in Mughal territory — without exclusive rights, but securing legal protection. Sir Thomas Roe is remembered for his accurate observations on Jahangir's court (in his journal).

Major Settlements

Farrukh Siyar's Farman 1717

The most consequential commercial concession came in 1717 when Mughal emperor Farrukh Siyar (under Syed Brothers) issued a farman to the English Company — duty-free trade in Bengal, Gujarat, and the Deccan in exchange for ₹3,000 per year. The British called it "the Magna Carta of the Company in India". The mission was led by Surgeon William Hamilton (who cured the emperor) and Sir John Surman.

§5 — The Danes

The Danes (1616)

The Danish East India Company was founded in 1616. The Danes established a factory at Tranquebar (Tarangambadi, Tamil Nadu) in 1620 and at Serampore (Bengal) in 1676. The Danish presence was small but significant in one respect — Serampore became the centre of Christian missionary printing in early 19th-century India (William Carey, Joshua Marshman, William Ward — the "Serampore Trio" of Baptist missionaries). Because of Danish jurisdiction, the British East India Company's restrictions on missionary activity could be evaded at Serampore. The Danes sold their settlements to the British in 1845.

§6 — The French in India

The French — Compagnie des Indes Orientales (1664)

The French East India Company (Compagnie française des Indes orientales) was founded in 1664 under the patronage of King Louis XIV and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Late entry into the Asian trade, weak commercial structure, and dependence on the French state left the company chronically under-capitalised compared to the joint-stock-funded English EIC.

Major French Settlements

The French finally surrendered Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe, Yanam, and Chandernagore to India by treaty between 1954 and 1962.

§7 — The Carnatic Wars (1746–1763)

The Anglo-French Carnatic Wars

The three Carnatic Wars decided the question of European supremacy in south India. Their backdrop was the broader Anglo-French rivalry in Europe and North America (the wars of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War).

First Carnatic War (1746–1748)

Triggered by the War of Austrian Succession in Europe. The French Joseph François Dupleix (Governor of Pondicherry) seized Madras in 1746 from the British. The Nawab of Carnatic, Anwaruddin, sent his forces against the French — but Dupleix's small disciplined infantry won at the Battle of St. Thomé (Adyar river) in 1746 — the first demonstration of European drill against an Indian army.

The war ended in Europe by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), by which Madras was restored to the British in exchange for Louisbourg in North America. The first war was a draw — but it taught both companies that European drilled infantry could defeat much larger Indian armies.

Second Carnatic War (1749–1754)

This was a purely Indian war over succession in Hyderabad and the Carnatic. Dupleix backed Muzaffar Jang for Hyderabad and Chanda Sahib for Carnatic; the British backed Nasir Jang and Muhammad Ali respectively.

Initially Dupleix's candidates won — Chanda Sahib became Nawab and besieged Muhammad Ali at Trichinopoly. The 25-year-old Robert Clive led the daring capture and defence of Arcot (1751) — Chanda Sahib's capital — forcing the French to lift the siege of Trichinopoly. Clive's exploit became legendary.

Dupleix was recalled to France in 1754. The Treaty of Pondicherry (1754) ended the war on terms favourable to the British: Muhammad Ali was recognised as Nawab of Carnatic.

Third Carnatic War (1756–1763)

The Third War coincided with the global Seven Years' War. The French sent Count Thomas Arthur de Lally with strong forces. He captured Fort St. David (1758) and besieged Madras (1758–59) — but the British fleet relieved Madras in February 1759.

The decisive engagement was the Battle of Wandiwash (22 January 1760) where the British general Sir Eyre Coote decisively defeated Lally. Pondicherry fell in 1761. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris (1763):

• Pondicherry, Mahe, Karaikal, Yanam, Chandernagore were restored to the French — but as commercial not military bases.
• French were forbidden from fortifying their settlements or maintaining troops in Bengal.
• French political ambitions in India were over.

§8 — Why the British Won the European Contest

Why the British Won (over Portuguese, Dutch and French)

UPSC frequently asks why the British, rather than the other Europeans, gained supremacy in India. The structural reasons are:

The European contest set the stage for the British conquest of India proper, beginning with the Battle of Plassey (1757) — the subject of the next chapter — and culminating in the political settlement after the Treaty of Allahabad (1765).

§9 — Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions