The East India
Company started as a trading company. To further its trading interest the
company started to interfere in local politics and later on took control of
local administration. Ultimately through various social, political and
administrative changes the company took full control over 63 percent of the
Indian territory and 78 percent of the population. Remaining part was under
indirect control of the East India Company.
In 1600, the East
India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I,
granting it the sole right to trade with the East . This meant that no other
trading group in England could compete
with East India company. The company did not fear competition from other English trading companies .Mercantile
trading companies in those days made Profit primarily by
excluding competition , so, that they could buy cheap and sell
dear .
By the first time the
first English ship sailed down the west
coast of Africa , round the cape of good Hope ,and crossed the Indian , the
Portuguese had already established their
presence
In western India ,and
had their base in Goa .In fact , it was Vasco-da-Gama , a
Portuguese explorer , who had discovered the sea route to India
in 1498.
The first English factory was set near the banks of river
Hooghly in 1651 . This
was the base from which the company
traders , known at
that time as the “factors”, operated
.The factory as the ware house where the goods for export werestored, and it offices where Company official sat. By
1696 it
began to building
forts around the settlements . Two years later it bribed Mughal
officials into the company zamindari right over three
villages. One of these was Kalikata , which grew later Calcutta or Kolkata.
The early eighteenth century the conflicts between the
company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified.
After the death
of Aurangzeb ,the Bengal nawabs asserted
their power and autonomy as other regional power were doing that time
.Murshid- Quli -khan , Alivardi khan ,Sirajuddaulah as the
nawab of Bengal . Each
one of them was a strong ruler .They
Refused to grant the
company concessions, demand of large
tribute for the
company’s right to trade .The company was also
Convinced that to
expand trade it had to enlarged its
settlement
And buy up villages,
and re building forts .The conflicts led
to the famous Battle
of Plessey
Battle of Plassey Battle of Plassey was the most decisive war that marked
the initiation of British rule in India for the next two centuries. Battle of Plassey or Palashi took place between British East India
Company and Nawabs of Bengal and his French allies. The battle occurred on June
23, 1757 at Palashi of Murshidabad District, on the bank of Bhagirathi
River. Murshidabad. Siraj-Ud-Daulah. The French East India Company also
sent a small army to join Nawabs force against the British .The army
commander Mirzafar of Siraj Ud Daulah`s side betrayed in the battle of Plassey and thereby the whole force of Nawab collapsed and as a
consequence, the entire province of Bengal came under British. Thus Plassey earns its importance in Indian history as a key factor leading
to the ascendance of British rule in India.
The doctrine of subsidiary alliance was
introduced by Marquess Wellesley, British Governor-General in
India from 1798 to 1805. Early in his
governorship Wellesley adopted a policy of non-intervention in the princely
states, but he later adopted the policy of forming subsidiary alliances. This
policy was to play a major role in British expansion in India.