British East India Company Rule
Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He established control over a very large part of the territory. After his death in 1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and big zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing regional kingdoms. As powerful regional kingdoms emerged in various parts of India, Delhi could no longer function as an effective centre.
By the second half of the eighteenth century, a new power was emerging on the political horizon - the British. The British originally came as a small trading company.
East India Company
England succeeded in controlling trade with India and established the East India Company in 1600. This company was supported by the British government. With its help England was able to extend her territorial frontiers to the Indian subcontinent.
The first factory was established at Surat in 1613. In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe got permission from the Mughal emperor Jahangir to open more factories at Agra, Ahmadabad and Broach. Their most important settlement on the southern coast was Madras where they built a fortified factory called Fort St. George. This was the first proprietary holding acquired by the company on Indian soil.
In 1617, the British East India Company was given permission by Mughal Emperor Jahangir to trade in India.
Gradually, their increasing influence led the Mughal emperor Farrukh Siyar to grant them dastaks or permits for duty-free trade in Bengal in 1717.
The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges. Aurangzeb’s farman had granted only the Company the right to trade duty free. But officials of the Company, who were carrying on private trade on the side, were expected to pay duty. This they refused to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal.
Nawabs of Bengal
After the death of Aurangzeb, the Bengal nawabs asserted their power and autonomy. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler. They refused to grant the Company concessions, emanded large tributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it any right to mint coins, and stopped it from extending its fortifications.
The conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated in the Battle of Plassey.
Battle of Plassey
When Alivardi Khan died in 1756, Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal. The Company was worried about his power and keen on a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade concessions and other privileges. Sirajuddaulah asked the Company to stop meddling in the political affairs of his dominion, stop fortification, and pay the revenues.
After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000 soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company officials, locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded English ships. Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the Company’s fort there.
On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Company officials in Madras sent forces under the command of Robert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets. In 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey.
One of the main reasons for the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle. Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing Sirajuddaulah.
After the defeat at Plassey, Sirajuddaulah was assassinated and Mir Jafar made the nawab. Clive was appointed by the company as its first Governor of Bengal in 1757.
Battle of Buxar
The Company was unwilling to take over the responsibility of administration. Its prime objective was the expansion of trade. If this could be done without conquest, through the help of local rulers who were willing to grant privileges, then territories need not be taken over directly. The Company discovered that this was rather difficult. For even the puppet nawabs were not always as helpful as the Company wanted them to be. After all, they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity and sovereignty if they wanted respect from their subjects.
When Mir Jafar protested, the Company deposed him and installed Mir Qasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained, he in turn was defeated in a battle fought at Buxar (1764), driven out of Bengal, and Mir Jafar was reinstalled.
Company Rule
The British East India Company extended its control over the whole of Bengal. After the Battle of Buxar, the company acquired the rights of administration in Bengal from Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. This marked the beginning of its formal rule.
The Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. The Diwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources of Bengal. This solved a major problem that the Company had earlier faced. From the early eighteenth century its trade with India had expanded. But it had to buy most of the goods in India with gold and silver imported from Britain. This was because at this time Britain had no goods to sell in India.
The outflow of gold from Britain slowed after the Battle of Plassey, and entirely stopped after the assumption of Diwani. Now revenues from India could finance Company expenses.
Company Rule Extends
The company used a variety of political, economic and diplomatic methods (like Subsidiary Alliances and Doctrine of Lapse) to extend its influence before annexing an Indian kingdom.
After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India came either under the Company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control as part a princely state in a subsidiary alliance. The Company subsequently gained control of regions ruled by the Maratha Empire, after defeating them in a series of wars. Punjab was annexed in 1849, after the defeat of the Sikh armies in the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars.