Colonial Advent in Indian History: The Portuguese, the French and the English

India had contacts with Europe since time immemorial through land route, which affected both India and Europe culturally and materially.

But the advent of European powers into India by discovering sea route to India had far-reaching consequences on the shape and course of Indian society and history from the middle of the 15th century.

First to come to India as traders were the Portuguese, who were followed by the Dutch, the British and the French, who subsequently developed designs to be the political masters of India?

Of all the European powers, the British succeeded in becoming the political masters of India. Indians continued their struggle against the European powers in the 18th and 19th centuries and only by the middle of the 20th century India could become independent after the partition of the subcon­tinent.

Much water has flown under the bridge in these four hundred years in India, and India underwent transition from a feudal, conservative, exclusive social system to a capitalistic, progressive and inclusive social system during this period with self-assertion based on introspection and external stimuli of ideas of equality, liberty, fraternity and people’s rule instead of rule of one man, i.e., from monarchy to democracy.

What we notice in this transition process was the tendency of continuity and change in all the spheres effecting human activity on the Indian soil, in spite of the foreign domination of our country by the British from 1757 to 1947 and their efforts to bring about a total change in our basic attitudes and outlook. We can thus learn how India reacted to the western dominance and showed its resistance facing the challenge of its annihilation of cultural mosaic based on pluralistic cultural values inherited in its long history of more than five thousand years.

The factors of the emergence of nation states, renaissance and reformation, agricultural and industrial revolution, new economic doctrine of mercantilism, competition between nation states for breaking the mercantile monopoly of the merchants of Venice and Geneva over sea-borne trade, and a great advance in navigational technologies like compass gave strong impetus for geographical discoveries leading to the finding of new worlds and new sea routes.

As a consequence of the above factors, a new route to the east via the Cape of Good Hope was discovered. This led to the European monopoly over the seas and the advent of Europeans into India in search of trade and commerce in spices, which were essential requirements of their food habits. Owing to the rivalry of European powers, India became the actual theatre of conflicts by the middle of the 18th century.

The Portuguese Power in India:

India maintained long distance trade with South-East Asia and the west Asian countries but India never had direct contact of maritime trade with European nations bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Prince Henry, the Navigator (1398-1460), the ruler of Portugal took the lead among the European nations and promoted seafaring activity. During the regime of King John II, Bartholomew Diaz crossed the Cape of Good Hope. When King Emmanuel was ruling Portugal, Vasco de Gama started his expedition in 1497 and landed on the Indian soil (Calicut) in May 1498. Vasco de Gama’s silent landing on the Indian soil ushered a new chapterof far-reaching consequences.

He was cordially received by Zamorin of Calicut. Vasco de Gama came to India again in 1501 and returned to Portugal in 1503 and by that time they established trading centres at Calicut, Cochin and Cannanore and effectively suppressed the Arab resistence. De Almedia was appointed as the first viceroy in India in 1505 and he initiated the ‘Blue Water’ policy or the mastery of sea by strong naval power. In 1509, De Almedia was followed by Albuquerque as the second viceroy and he was in that power till 1515.

Albuquerque laid the foundation of the Portuguese power in India by conquering Goa in 1510, and it became the headquarters of the Portuguese in India. In 1515, he conquered Ormuz; an island in the Persian Gulf He also built a fort at Cochin with the approval of its ruler. The Portuguese obtained Diu and Bassein in 1534 and in 1538 they conquered Daman. Thus, the Portuguese power in India grew but their power and influence declined from the beginning of the 17th century. They failed in India due to various factors like their zeal to convert Indians to Christianity and the defeat of Portugal by Spain. But for the first time in the history of international trade, commercial treaties with Indian rulers were concluded, by the Portuguese alone.

The present European contact revolutionalized the outlook of the Indians significantly with far-reaching impact on the future course of the Indian society. The production of cash crops, especially spices grew with an eye on international trade, and agricultural production had become enormously market-oriented.

The Dutch East India Company:

By a charter of the Government of Holland, the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. As the Dutch were very much interested in spice trade, they had their focus on the Far East and made India their trading depot. In 1606, they established their factories at Petapalli and Masulipatnam. Realizing that Indian textiles have a large market, they established factories at Pulicat in 1610, Cambay in 1620, Surat and Agra in 1621, Hariharapur in 1633, Patna in 1638, Dacca in 1650, Udaiganj in 1651, Chinsura in 1653, Quasim Bazar, Barangore, Balasure and Nagapatnam in 1659-60. The Dutch withdrew from Golkonda by 1684. They also opened faaories in Bengal, at Khankul in 1669 and at Malda in 1676 but both were closed down soon.

The rising Dutch power was looked as a threat by the British and a truce was concluded between them in 1619 but it did not last long. By 1795, the British expelled the Dutch from India totally. In India, the factories of the Dutch were administered by a council consisting of the director, a senior factor, the in charge of the company’s trade books, a law enforcement officer, the in charge of the warehouses, the in charge of the loading and unloading and six junior factors. Of the six, one acted as secretary to the council. Their headquarters was in Batavia. The Dutch received encour­agement from the rulers of Golkonda, the Nayaks of Tanjore and Shahjahan, Aurangzeb and Jahandar Shah.

The English East India Company:

‘The English Association of the Merchant Adventurers’ was established in 1599 with the objective of carrying on trade with the east. This company, which is popular as east India Company obtained a Royal Charter with trade monopoly in the east from Queen Elizabeth on 31 December, 1600. By 1608, the first factory at Surat was decided to be opened by the British. By 1619, they estab­lished factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach. Even before these factories, one factory was established at Machilipatnam in 1611, one at Armagaon in 1625, and obtained Madras in 1639 and constructed Fort St. George. They acquired Bombay Island in 1668 and fortified it soon and it becomes the headquarters of the west in 1687.

In the east, they established their factories in Orissa at Hariharapur and Balasore in 1633, in 1651 at Hughli and in 1698 they acquired the Zamindari of Sumauti, Kalikata and Govindpur, where they built Fort William and in later days it grew into a big city known as Calcutta. The internal management of the East India Company was carried on by ‘Court of Committee’ for some time and in 1709 the name was changed to ‘Court of directors’ which was based in London.

The Company was empowered to make laws and judicial powers. In India, each factory was administered by a governor-in-council. There exists a close relationship between the company and the crown, and the crown and parliament controlled the East India Company through charters.

The French East India Company:

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.

Further the hostile relations between these powers in Europe also led to war in India. There was hostility between the French and the Dutch in India in 1690 and again in 1721. The French and the British companies clashed in India between 1742 and 1766. The French hopes of establishing their political powers came to an end in 18th century. In the beginning the French had their headquarters at Surat but later they shifted it to Pondicherry. The supreme body of the French was known as “Superior Council of the Indies”. It was headed by a Director General and he was placed in charge of the French affairs in India. The superior council consisted of a Governor and five members.

The Governor’s voice was final. One aspect to be noted is the mutual jealousies and quarrels between the French officials and the commanders in India, which ultimately affected the fortunes of the French in India. The French East India Company was a state controlled organization and from 1723, it was almost wholly controlled by the French government. The Directors now have become its representatives. The Directors have no powers for all practical purposes. After 1730 the French East India Company had became the national East India Company.

After 1789, the French East India trade was thrown open to individuals. In a way it is the French who initiated the strategy of interfering in internal affairs of the Indian states to obtain political mileage and showed the way to the British. While the French failed in their strategy, it is the British who were successful. Besides the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and the French, the Danes entered India as traders in 1616 and obtained Trancquabar port from the Nayaks of Tanjore in 1620 and built a fort there. Though they started factories at Masulipatnam, port Novo, and Serampur, their success in trading business was short-lived as their sources were scanty. They sold their factories to the British and left India finally in 1845.

Likewise, the Swedish East India did business for a short while and the activities of Flander’s merchants were also limited to India alone for a short while. The discovery of the new sea route via the Cape of Good Hope, threw the eastern trade open to all European nations. Consequently, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and the French merchant companies opened their factories in Africa and Asia.

These European companies exhibited interest in obtaining more and more concessions from the Indian rulers as each was very desirous of gaining a monopoly of eastern trade against the other powers. This desire for monopoly made them enter into conflicts with one another both on land and sea. By 1750, the fortune smiled at the British and the British emerged victorious and developed designs to establish their political supremacy in India. In the following sections we will be studying the strategies adopted by them to achieve their objective.

Ryotwari Settlements:

As a result of the criticism against the permanent settlement by Captain Read and Sir Thomas Munro, the select committee of the House of Commons suggested to the Crown and Parliament the necessity of not introducing permanent settlement anywhere in India and favoured Ryotwari system. The architect and prime advocate of Ryotwari system was Thomas Munro. Munro advocated that the prosperity of the large, number of people can be achieved by the introduction of the Ryotwani system further. He argued that this system was in vogue in pre-colonial India.

The cultivator was made to pay a stipulated land tax to the government regularly keeping in view the area under cultivation and the prices of the agricultural produce. In this system, the ryot or cultivator becomes the landlord, labourer and the farmer. This system appeared to be more advantageous to both the government and the cultivator as it protected the interests of both the parties.Two important features of this system were the direct settlement between the ryot and the government and assessment for a short period. There would be no intermediary between the government and the ryot like Zamindar or Talukdar.

Another significant feature was that the ryot obtained both hereditary and transferable rights of occupancy over the land tilled by him. Ryotwari settlement was introduced in Madras and Bombay presidencies and was in operation for three decades. In actual operation, it failed to make the cultivators prosperous and happy and the condition of the peasants worsened due to indebtedness to moneylenders.

Most of the land passed into the hands of the moneyed class and a new social group of landless wage earners increased due to high land tax collected from the ryots. These after-effects of the Ryotwari system created considerable social tension and led to a major rural apprising in the Bombay Deccan in 1875. In practice the Ryotwari system too did not satisfy either the cultivator or the government.

The Mahalwari System:

The failure of the permanent settlement of Comwallis and the Ryotwari system of Munro made the British administrators think of an alternate settlement of land revenue to be implemented in the north-west provinces. Discussions on the need for new orientation on revenue policy made the British opt for the settlement proposed by an English official, Holt Mackenzie in 1819. Holt Mackenzie developed a theory that the Zamindars and Talukdars constitute the village community and land tax of that village is to be collected from the village community.

Mackenzie’s proposal was to gradually eliminate all the interme­diate proprieters created by the British laws and to protect the rights of the actual cultivators, i.e., the village Zamindar and the Ryot in the village. It was introduced in the Gangetic valley, the north-west provinces, parts of central India and the Punjab. Under this Mahalwari system the revenue to be paid by the Ryot was fixed for a short period and the state’s share was fixed as two-thirds of the gross produce. As it was too high, William Bentinck reduced the tax to the sixty-six per cent and afterwards to fifty per cent. As the tax was high and culti­vators failed to pay the taxes, large areas of land began to pass into the hands of the moneylenders and merchants after 1833.

The Mahalwari settlement brought impoverishment and widespread dispossession in the cultivating communities of North India between 1830 and 1840 and their resentment burst as 1857 revolt. Owing to the greed of the British administrators for more and more income from land tax, all the land revenue settlements experimented in India between 1772 and 1822 thoroughly failed and caused undue hardship and misery to the community of ryots or peasants.

Causes for Poverty in India:

In pre-colonial India, in spite of uneven income levels of different segments of population, the demand in the home markets for consumer goods was fairly good among common people and the rich nobles provided market for high class luxury goods. Cotton textiles agro-based products like oil, tobacco, opium and ship building provided the necessary stimulus for the pre-colonial economy. In pre-colonial India, Indians were relatively better off compared to colonial India.

The British colonial policies, in particular, the revenue policy of imposing high tax on agricultural sector, ruined the agrarian economy. The commercialization of agriculture, ruining of Indian handicrafts, import of finished mill-made cloth at cheaper rate, neglect of irrigation facilities till the second half of the 19th century and the greed of the British East India Company officials made India a poor country.

The main cause for the poverty and impoverishment of Indian peasants and artisans was the colonial policy which resulted in ‘Drain of Wealth’ as proved by the early nationalists like Ramesh Chandra Dutt, Dadabai Naoroji, Ranade, G.V. Joshi and Malaviya.