It was the enormous profit earned by the Portuguese traders from the sale of their merchandise in India that drew attention of British traders. Being motivated by the successful business stories of the Portuguese a group of English merchants -‘Merchant Adventurers’ formed a company- the East India Company in 1599 AD. The Company received a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600 AD authorizing it to trade in the East. Queen was herself a share holder in the East India Company.
Trade was soon followed by the flag and taking advantage of the distributed political situation, they established their political sway over the coastal regions like Goa, Daman, Diu, Bassein, Bombay, Chawl, San Thomas and Hugli. They were thus successful in establishing only a coastal maritime empire. The spectacular success of the Portuguese attracted other European maritime powers in this eastern trade and the Dutch, the English and the French , in that order began to compete with the Portuguese. The Dutch established their factories at Masulipatnam, Pulicat, Nagapatan, Balasore, Coachin, Patna and Chasimbazar.The Dutch was followed by the English. The British East India company received its charter from Queen Elizabeth in 1600,and Emperor Jahangir issued a fireman to the company in 1613 to establish a permanent factory at Surat. This became the chief settlement of the company in India letter by the efforts of Sir Thomas Roy ( 1615 – 1619 )the ambassador from the kings of England to jahangir they secured permission to found factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and broach. when Charles to the king of England married Catherine of berganza the Portuguese Princess in 1661 Bombay was ceded to the king as part of the Dower. Charles found Bombay an exceedingly unprofitable positions and in 1688 he handed it over to the East India company at rent of £10 a year. By 1687 Bombay superseded Surat and become the chief settlement of the British in India. In the meantime, the British had established their factories at Masulipatnam, Amargaon, Balasore, Madras and Hugli.
Major European Powers in India: The Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and the French were the four major European powers who arrived in India to establish their trade links and subsequently held colonial possessions. Major well as minor conflicts among them often took place from time to time for commercial and political supremacy but in the end it were the British who proved themselves most powerful after thrashing the other three and remained in India for more than 200 years as ruling power. The Portuguese who were the first to come to India, set up their factories and colonial posts here and faced stiff competition from the Dutch but the Dutch proved weak before them as they could not withstand the stiff competition of the Portuguese and the British and thus retired from India.
Main Rivals: Ever since the British came to India they faced challenges from the Europeans powers like the Dutch, the Portuguese and the French. The Portuguese and the Dutch were not serious and potent rivals to the British. The only strong rival of the British were the French who were also the last Europeans to come to India. The British efforts to establish a complete monopoly over trade and commerce in India again and again brought them into conflict with the French. Consequently three long battles were fought between these two European powers during a period of 20 years (1744 AD-1763 AD) with the aim of capturing commercial as well as territorial control. The final decisive battle was fought on 22 January, 1763 AD at Wandiwash.
Carnatic Wars: It was the succession disputes in both the Carnatic and Hyderabad that opened the gates for Europeans- the British and the French- to play the roles of middlemen and thus in order to grind their axe both European powers had a golden opportunity for intervention in support of various rival Indian claimants. At first the French, under Dupleix who was a governor of Pondicherry emerged victorious both in the Carnatic and in Hyderabad. The French were rewarded with Northern Sarkars by their claimant to throne which the French officer Bussy controlled for seven years. However the French success turned out to be short lived. They were checked by British forces under Robert Clive in 1751 AD. Robert Clive changed the course of the war. The French claimant was defeated the next year. The French had to sign the treaty of Tirucirapally with the British. In the next Seven Years’ War (1756 AD– 1763 AD)-third Carnatic War-both the French and British Armies renewed their rivalry. The war began when French General Count De Lally invaded Madras but was defeated by the British General Sir Eyre Coote. The British captured Pondicherry (1761 AD) and Count De Lally was forced to surrender Kartika and Jinji to them. Hence, the French lost third Carnatic War at Wandiwash (1760 AD) and subsequently signed treaty of Paris with the British in Europe.
Establishment of British Supremacy: The victory in Carnatic war prepared the ground for the British to establish their supremacy in India and the French dream of an Indian empire disappeared for ever. With the victory of Wandiwash the British East India Company had no European rival left in India.The British became the master of this great country. Besides having skilled leaders like Sir Eyre Coote, Major Stringer Lawrence, Robert Clive on their side the British were also a strong naval power which was a decisive factor with them to become credible rulers of India.
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