Advent of Europeans in India

Modern History

After the decline of the Roman Empire in the seventh century, the Arabs had established their domination in Egypt and Persia. Direct contact between the Europeans and India declined and, with that, the easy accessibility to the Indian commodities in demand was affected.

Europe had three major trade routes to India they are as follows:

Via Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Caspian Sea and terminating at the Black Sea Coast.
Via Persia and Syria directing to the port of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast of Europe.
The Sea route via the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea.

In 1453 A.D the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople and created problems for European merchants by blocking the land route which passes through Afghanistan. Also, the other trade routes to India were in trouble due to the Arab conquest in the 8th century A.D. As a result of it, Europeans were in need to find a new sea route to India.

THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA:

The Portuguese were the first to discover a new sea route to India. Prince Henry of Portugal began a school for training regarding navigation methods scientifically. As a result of Prince’s interest in the field of Navigation, he is called “Henry, the Navigator”.

1. Vasco Da Gama

Arrival of Vasco Da Gama, led by a Gujarati pilot named Abdul Majid, at Calicut in May 1498 was warmly welcomed by Zamorin (Ruler of Calicut).
In 1501, Vasco da Gama came to India for the second time and set up a factory at Cannanore.
The Portuguese also established factories at Calicut, Cochin, and Cannanore which all reside in the West Coast of India.

2. Francisco De Almeida

Francisco De Almeida (1505-1509) was the first viceroy of Portuguese in India.
During his tenure, the Portuguese defeated the Arab Traders.
Francisco De Almeida’s aim was to increase the Portuguese naval power and to become the master of the Indian Ocean.
This policy of dominating the other country’s settlement by naval force was known as the “Blue Water Policy”.
Francisco Almeida was defeated and killed by Egyptians in 1509.

3. Alfonso de Albuquerque

Real founder of the Portuguese power in the East.
He captured Goa from Bijapur Sultan in 1510 and made Goa the capital.
He captured Malacca in the Far East in 1511 and built the port of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf in 1515.

4. Nino da Cunha

Nino da Cunha assumed office of the governor of Portuguese interests in India in November 1529 and almost one year later shifted the headquarters of the Portuguese government in India from Cochin to Goa.
Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, during his conflict with Humayun, secured help from the Portuguese by ceding to them in 1534 the island of Bassein. He also promised them a base in Diu.
However, Bahadur Shah’s relations with the Portuguese became sour when Humayun withdrew from Gujarat in 1536.

PORTUGUESE STATE

1. Religious Policy of the Portuguese

Intolerant towards the Muslims.
Zeal to promote Christianity.

2. Contribution to India

First Printing Press in 1556 at Goa.
First book printed in India was Saint Peter’s Charita in Marathi.
Introduced new crops: Tobacco, maize, chillies.

3. Portuguese and the Mughals

1608: Captain William Hawkins with his ship Hector reached Surat. Jahangir appointed him as a mansabdar of 400 at a salary of Rs 30,000.
November 1612: The English ship Dragon under Captain Best along with a little ship, Osiander, successfully fought a Portuguese fleet.

DECLINE OF THE PORTUGUESE

Emergence of powerful dynasties in Egypt, Persia, and North India and the rise of the turbulent Marathas as their immediate neighbors.
The union of the two kingdoms of Spain and Portugal in 1580-81, dragging the smaller kingdom into Spain’s wars with England and Holland, badly affected Portuguese monopoly of trade in India.
Religious policies of the Portuguese gave rise to political fears, dishonest trade practices.
Earned notoriety as sea pirates.
Goa, which remained with the Portuguese, had lost its importance as a port after the fall of the Vijayanagar empire.
Marathas invaded Goa in 1683.
Rise of Dutch and English commercial ambitions.
Diversion to the west due to the discovery of Brazil.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PORTUGUESE

Marked the emergence of naval power.
Portuguese ships carried cannon.
An important military contribution made by the Portuguese onshore was the system of drilling groups of infantry, on the Spanish model, introduced in 1630.
Masters of improved techniques at sea.

THE DUTCH IN INDIA - 1596

Cornelis de Houtman was the first Dutchman to reach Sumatra and Bantam in 1596.
The Dutch founded their first factory in Masulipatnam (Andhra Pradesh) in 1605.
Captured Nagapatam near Madras (Chennai) from the Portuguese and made it their main stronghold in South India.
Dutch established factories on the Coromandel coast, in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, and Bihar.
1609: Opened a factory in Pulicat, north of Madras.
Their other principal factories in India were at:
- Surat (1616), Bimlipatam (1641), Karaikal (1645), Chinsura (1653), Baranagar, Kasimbazar, Balasore, Patna, Nagapatam (1658), and Cochin (1663).
They carried indigo, textiles, silk, saltpetre, opium, and rice from different parts of India.

ANGLO-DUTCH RIVALRY

Enmity between the Dutch and the English in the East reached its peak at Amboyna (Indonesia, 1623) where the Dutch massacred ten Englishmen and nine Japanese.
1667: Dutch retired from India and moved to Indonesia.
They monopolized the trade in black pepper and spices.
The most important Indian commodities the Dutch traded in were silk, cotton, indigo, rice, and opium.

DECLINE OF THE DUTCH IN INDIA

The Dutch got drawn into the trade of the Malay Archipelago.
Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-74).
The retaliation by the English resulted in the Battle of Hooghly (November 1759) where the Dutch were defeated.
Their concerns were trade and commercial interests, mainly in the Spice Islands of Indonesia.
Battle of Bidara - 1759: The English defeated the Dutch.

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Subject: Modern History

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