European Trading Companies and the Carnatic Wars
The Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danish and French in India for UPSC — settlements, key governors, the 1717 farman, the three Carnatic Wars and why the English won.
SyllabusGS I · Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present
Prerequisites: The Mughal Empire · Advent of the Europeans — overview
The Hook: The First to Arrive, the Last to Leave
On 19 December 1961, after the Indian armed forces’ Operation Vijay, the Portuguese Governor-General in Goa surrendered. Goa, Daman and Diu became part of India — 451 years after Afonso de Albuquerque had captured Goa in 1510, and 14 years after the British had left. December 2021 marked the 60th anniversary of Goa’s liberation.
The Portuguese came first and left last; yet it was the English, who came a century later, who built an empire. Why did the latecomer win? That question organises this whole chapter.
The Core Concept
Europe wanted Indian pepper, spices, cotton textiles, indigo and saltpetre. After the Ottoman capture of Constantinople (1453), Europeans sought a direct sea route to Asia that bypassed Arab and Venetian middlemen. Portugal found it first; the others followed through chartered joint-stock companies.
| Power | Company / start | First foothold | Main centres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese | Royal enterprise (Estado da India) | Calicut, 1498 | Cochin, Goa (capital from 1530), Daman, Diu, Bassein, Hooghly |
| Dutch | VOC (United East India Company), 1602 | Masulipatnam, 1605 | Pulicat, Chinsura, Cochin, Nagapattinam |
| English | East India Company, charter of 31 December 1600 | Surat (factory, 1613) | Madras, Bombay, Calcutta |
| Danish | Danish East India Company, 1616 | Tranquebar, 1620 | Tranquebar, Serampore |
| French | Compagnie des Indes Orientales, 1664 | Surat, 1668 | Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal, Yanam |
The Portuguese
- 1498: Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, ruled by the Zamorin. Pedro Alvares Cabral followed in 1500.
- Francisco de Almeida (first viceroy, from 1505) pursued the “Blue Water Policy” — control of the sea rather than land. In 1509 the Portuguese defeated a combined Egyptian-Gujarati fleet off Diu.
- Afonso de Albuquerque (governor 1509–15), the real founder of Portuguese power, captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate in 1510. He is also credited with prohibiting sati in Goa.
- Nino da Cunha shifted the capital from Cochin to Goa (1530) and obtained Bassein and Diu from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.
- The cartaz system: Asian ships needed a Portuguese pass to sail the Arabian Sea.
- The Jesuits set up a printing press in Goa in 1556. The Portuguese introduced American crops such as tobacco and chillies to India.
- Decline: Shah Jahan expelled them from Hooghly (1632); Bombay passed to the English Crown as part of Catherine of Braganza’s dowry to Charles II (1661); religious intolerance, the union of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns (1580) and Dutch and English naval competition eroded their position.
The Dutch
- The VOC (1602) set up its first Indian factory at Masulipatnam (1605); Pulicat was its early headquarters on the Coromandel coast, later shifted to Nagapattinam.
- They seized Cochin from the Portuguese (1663) and traded in Bengal from Chinsura.
- Their main interest was the spice islands of Indonesia; India supplied textiles to pay for spices.
- Defeats: by Marthanda Varma of Travancore at Colachel (1741), and by the English at Bedara (1759), which ended Dutch ambitions in India.
The English
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1600 | Charter from Elizabeth I (31 December) |
| 1609 | Captain William Hawkins at Jahangir’s court |
| 1612 | Thomas Best defeats the Portuguese at Swally near Surat |
| 1613 | Factory at Surat under a Mughal farman |
| 1615 | Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador of James I, reaches Jahangir’s court |
| 1639 | Site for Madras obtained by Francis Day; Fort St George built |
| 1668 | Bombay transferred by the Crown to the Company |
| 1690 | Job Charnock settles at Sutanuti |
| 1698 | Zamindari of Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata — the nucleus of Calcutta and Fort William |
| 1717 | Farrukhsiyar’s farman — duty-free trade in Bengal for an annual payment of Rs 3,000; the Company’s dastaks exempted goods from duty |
The 1717 farman has been called the Company’s “Magna Carta”. Its misuse — servants using dastaks for private trade — became a core grievance of the Bengal Nawabs and a cause of the Battle of Plassey.
The Danes
The Danish East India Company (1616) founded Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu) in 1620 and later Serampore (Bengal), where the Baptist missionaries Carey, Marshman and Ward set up a mission and press. The Danes sold their Indian settlements to the British in 1845.
The French and the Carnatic Wars
The French company (1664) was set up under Colbert, minister of Louis XIV — a state-controlled company. Francois Martin founded Pondicherry (1674). The ambitious governor Joseph Francois Dupleix (from 1742) intervened in Indian succession disputes to win territory and influence. The result was three Anglo-French wars fought mainly in the Carnatic (the Coromandel coast and its hinterland).
| War | European link | Key events | Ended by |
|---|---|---|---|
| First (1746–48) | War of the Austrian Succession | French capture Madras; at St Thome (Adyar), 1746, a small French force defeats the Nawab of Carnatic Anwaruddin’s large army | Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) — Madras returned to the English |
| Second (1749–54) | No war in Europe — succession disputes in Hyderabad and Carnatic | French back Muzaffar Jang and Chanda Sahib; English back Nasir Jang and Muhammad Ali; Anwaruddin killed at Ambur (1749); Clive seizes Arcot (1751) | Dupleix recalled (1754); Treaty of Pondicherry (1754–55) |
| Third (1758–63) | Seven Years’ War | Count de Lally fails; Sir Eyre Coote wins the Battle of Wandiwash (22 January 1760); Pondicherry falls (1761) | Treaty of Paris (1763) — French settlements returned, but unfortified |
graph LR
A[1498 Portuguese at Calicut] --> B[1510 Goa captured]
B --> C[1600 English charter]
C --> D[1602 Dutch VOC]
D --> E[1616 Danish company]
E --> F[1664 French company]
F --> G[1717 Farrukhsiyar farman]
G --> H[1746-63 Carnatic Wars]
H --> I[1760 Wandiwash: English supremacy]Why the English won
- Organisation: a private company answerable to shareholders, with steady finances; the French company depended on the French state and its politics.
- Naval supremacy: the Royal Navy could cut French supply lines and protect English settlements.
- Resources of Bengal: after Plassey (1757), Bengal’s revenue financed the English war effort in the south.
- Leadership and unity: Clive, Lawrence and Eyre Coote worked together; the French leadership was divided (Dupleix and La Bourdonnais; Lally and Bussy).
- Commercial base: the English never neglected trade; French over-commitment to politics drained their funds.
Memory Anchors
Order of arrival — “Please Do Eat Delicious Food”: Portuguese → Dutch → English → Danes → French.
Order of company formation is different: English (1600) → Dutch (1602) → Danish (1616) → French (1664). The Portuguese had no company — theirs was a royal enterprise.
Three Carnatic Wars — “Austria, Arcot, Wandiwash”: First = Austrian Succession; Second = Clive at Arcot; Third = Wandiwash.
One-line Mains hook: “The Carnatic Wars decided not who would trade with India, but who would rule it.”
For Prelims
- First Portuguese viceroy: Almeida (Blue Water Policy); conqueror of Goa (1510): Albuquerque.
- Portuguese capital shifted from Cochin to Goa in 1530 (Nino da Cunha).
- First Dutch factory: Masulipatnam (1605). Battle of Colachel (1741): Travancore defeated the Dutch.
- Farrukhsiyar’s farman (1717): duty-free trade in Bengal for Rs 3,000 a year.
- Battle of St Thome (1746) showed that a small, disciplined European force could beat a large Indian army.
- Battle of Wandiwash (1760): Eyre Coote defeated Lally. Treaty of Paris (1763) ended French political ambition.
- The Danes sold Tranquebar and Serampore to the British in 1845.
For Mains
- Dimensions: economic (spice and textile trade, bullion inflow); political (from factories to forts to territory); military (European drill and artillery); naval (sea control); diplomatic (Mughal farmans, alliances with Indian rulers).
- Keywords: Blue Water Policy, cartaz, joint-stock company, factory, farman, dastak, subsidiary troops, Anglo-French rivalry.
- Value-addition: the 1717 farman and the abuse of dastaks as the bridge between trade and politics; St Thome (1746) as the moment Europeans realised Indian armies could be defeated; Dupleix’s method of lending troops to Indian rulers, later perfected by the English.
Common Traps
In the News
- December 2021 — Goa marked the 60th anniversary of its liberation from Portuguese rule (19 December 1961).
Practice
Prelims
Consider the following statements about the Portuguese in India:
- Francisco de Almeida captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate.
- The Portuguese required Asian ships to carry a pass called the cartaz.
- The Portuguese capital in India was shifted from Cochin to Goa.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Solution
Statement 1 is wrong — Goa was captured in 1510 by Albuquerque, not Almeida. Statement 2 is correct — the cartaz system enforced Portuguese control of the sea. Statement 3 is correct — Nino da Cunha moved the capital from Cochin to Goa in 1530.
Answer: B
Which battle effectively ended the French bid for political supremacy in India?
Solution
At Wandiwash (22 January 1760), Sir Eyre Coote defeated Count de Lally; Pondicherry fell in 1761. Ambur (1749) belongs to the Second Carnatic War; St Thome (1746) was a French victory over the Nawab of Carnatic; Bedara (1759) was an English victory over the Dutch.
Answer: D
The farman of 1717, which allowed the English East India Company to trade duty-free in Bengal in return for an annual payment of Rs 3,000, was issued by
Solution
The Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar issued the farman in 1717. Jahangir permitted the Surat factory (1613); Shah Alam II granted the Diwani in 1765; Aurangzeb fought the English in the 1680s.
Answer: A
Mains
Although the Portuguese and the Dutch reached India before them, it was the English who established political supremacy. Analyse the factors responsible.
Solution
Introduction: The Portuguese arrived in 1498 and the Dutch VOC set up its first factory in 1605, yet by 1763 the English East India Company had defeated its rivals and stood on the threshold of territorial power.
Body:
- Weakness of rivals: Portuguese religious intolerance and over-reliance on naval force; Dutch focus on the Indonesian spice trade; French dependence on a state-run company.
- Naval power: English control of the sea protected settlements and cut rival supply lines.
- Organisation and finance: a private joint-stock company with steady capital and a continuous commercial base.
- Bengal: after Plassey (1757), Bengal’s revenue financed the Third Carnatic War.
- Leadership: Clive (Arcot, 1751), Eyre Coote (Wandiwash, 1760); divided French command.
- Diplomacy: skilful use of Mughal farmans (1717) and alliances in Indian succession disputes.
Conclusion: English supremacy came from the combination of sea power, sound finance and Bengal’s resources — a pattern that turned a trading company into a ruling power.
Quick Revision
| Point | One-liner |
|---|---|
| Vasco da Gama | Calicut, 1498 (Zamorin) |
| Almeida / Albuquerque | First viceroy, Blue Water Policy / captured Goa 1510 |
| VOC | 1602; first factory Masulipatnam 1605 |
| English charter | 31 December 1600, Elizabeth I |
| Surat factory | 1613; Thomas Roe at Jahangir’s court 1615 |
| Calcutta | Job Charnock 1690; three villages 1698 |
| Farman 1717 | Farrukhsiyar — duty-free trade in Bengal |
| French company | 1664, Colbert; Pondicherry 1674 |
| Carnatic Wars | 1746–48, 1749–54, 1758–63 |
| Wandiwash | 1760 — Eyre Coote beats Lally |
Key Takeaways
- Arrival order: Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danes, French — but company charters run English (1600) before Dutch (1602).
- Trade became politics through farmans, dastaks and intervention in Indian succession disputes.
- The Carnatic Wars (1746–63) settled the Anglo-French contest; naval power and Bengal’s revenue gave the English the edge.
Related Topics
- Advent of the Europeans — quick revision
- Advent of the Europeans — practice questions
- British Expansion and Administration
- The Mughal Empire
- World History