UNIT 2- Advent of Europeans and Consolidation of British Power in India

The Portuguese in India

 Decline of the Roman Empire in the 7th century, the Arabs domination in Egypt and Persia.
 Accessibility to the Indian spices, calicoes, silk, precious stones- affected.
 In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Merchandise to the European markets through Arab
Muslim intermediaries. The Red Sea trade route -Islamic rulers. The land routes to India were also
controlled by the Arabs.
 Europeans - keen to find a direct sea route to India. Fifteenth-century Europe Renaissance, advances in the
art of ship-building and navigation, eagerness.
 The economic development, expansion of land improved plough, scientific crop management, increased
supply of meat (which called for spices for cooking as well as for preservation).
 Prosperity grew, demand for oriental luxury goods also increased.
 Venice and Genoa (trade in oriental goods) were too small to take on the mighty Ottoman Turks. The north
Europeans aid Portugal and Spain with money and men, Genoese provide ships and technical knowledge.
 Portugal had assumed the leadership in Christendom’s resistance to Islam
 Finding an ocean route to India -obsession for Prince Henry of Portugal, ‘Navigator’; also keen to find a
way to circumvent the Muslim domination of the eastern Mediterranean and all the routes that connected
India to Europe.
 Pope Nicholas V gave Prince Henry a bull in 1454, conferring right to navigate the “sea to the distant
shores of the Orient”, more specifically “as far as India” to spread the Christian faith.
 In 1497, under the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the rulers of Portugal and Spain divided the non-
Christian world between them by an imaginary line in the Atlantic, some 1,300 miles west of the Cape
Verde Islands. Under the treaty, Portugal -claim and occupy everything to the east of the line while
Spain to the west.
 It was in 1487 that the Portuguese navigator, Bartholomew Dias, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in
Africa.
 But in 1497 and arrived in India in slightly less than 11 months’ time, in May 1498.

FROM TRADING TO RULING

1498- Vasco Da Gama

 Vasco Da Gama, led by a Gujarati pilot Abdul Majid, at Calicut in May 1498, Hindu ruler of Calicut,
the Zamorin (Samuthiri)- friendly reception. The Arab traders not keen.
  Trading system in the Indian Ocean—Indians, Arabs, Africans from the east coast, Chinese, Javanese,
among others.
 Portuguese - dominance, monopolise trade by excluding competitors, especially the Arabs.
 Vasco da Gama returned after 3 months and came back in 1501. Zamorin declined to exclude the Arab
merchants. His rupture with the Zamorin thus became total and complete.
 Vasco da Gama set up a trading factory at Cannanore.

1500- Pedro Alvarez Cabral,

 negotiated and established a factory at Calicut, where he arrived in September 1500. conflict when the
Portuguese factory at Calicut was attacked by the locals, Cabral seized a number of Arab merchant ships
killed
 Advantageous treaties with the local rulers of Cochin and Cannanore.
 Calicut, Cannanore, and Cochin important trade centres of the Portuguese. Gradually, permission to fortify
these centres.

Francisco De Almeida

 In 1505, the King of Portugal appointed a governor to consolidate the position of the Portuguese,
destroy Muslim trade by seizing Aden, Ormuz, and Malacca, build fortresses at Anjadiva, Cochin,
Cannanore, and Kilwa.
 Opposition of the Zamorin, Mameluke Sultan of Egypt. Egyptians raised a fleet in the Red Sea to stop the
advance of the Portuguese. In 1507, the Portuguese was defeated in a naval battle off Diu by the
combined Egyptian and Gujarat navies.
 Almeida’s vision - to make the Portuguese the master of the Indian Ocean. His policy was known as the
Blue Water Policy (cartaze system).

Alfonso de Albuquerque Albuquerque

 Real founder of the Portuguese power in the East, Established bases overlooking all the entrances to
the sea. Portuguese had strong hold in East Africa, off the Red Sea, at Ormuz; in Malabar; and at Malacca.
 Introduced a permit system, control over the major ship-building centres in the region.
 non availability of timber in the Gulf and Red Sea regions for ship-building also helped the Portuguese in
their objectives.
 Albuquerque acquired Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510 “the first bit of Indian territory to be
under the Europeans since the time of Alexander the Great”,
 Abolition of sati, encouraged to take local wives.
  In Goa and the Province of the North, they established themselves as village landlords, settled as artisans
and master-craftsmen, besides being traders , often built new roads and irrigation works, introducing new
crops like tobacco and cashew nut, or better plantation varieties of coconut to meet the need for coir
rigging and cordage,.
 Most of such Portuguese came to look upon their new settlements, rather than Portugal, as home.

Nino da Cunha
 Assumed office November 1529. shifted the headquarters from Cochin to Goa.
 Mughal emperor Humayun vs Bahadur Shah of Gujarat - help from the Portuguese by ceding the island
of Bassein with its dependencies and revenues 1534. promised them a base in Diu
 Later Humyun withdrew from Gujarat in 1536, BS’s relations with the Portuguese became sour
 Bahadur Shah wanted to raise a wall of partition. Portuguese opposing - negotiations, in the course of
which – killed BS in 1537.
 attempted to increase Portuguese influence in Bengal by settling many Portuguese in Hooghly.

Favourable Conditions for Portuguese

 In India, Northern part much divided among many small powers except Gujarat under Mahmud
Begarha (or Begada) from 1458 to 1511 .
 Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom was breaking up into smaller kingdoms.
 No strong navy. Arab merchants and ship-owners had nothing to match the organisation and unity of the
Portuguese. Portuguese had cannons placed on their ships.
 In East, the imperial decree of the Chinese emperor limited the navigational reach of the Chinese ships.

Portuguese State

 Many of the coastal parts - under Portuguese power within fifty years.
 Sixty miles of coast around Goa. West coast from Mumbai to Daman and Diu to the approaches to Gujarat.
 South -seaport fortresses Mangalore, Cannanore, Cochin, and Calicut. power in Malabar was not
consolidated, it was enough.
 Military posts and settlements on the east coast at San Thome (in Chennai) and Nagapattinam (in Tamil
Nadu).
 End of the 16th century, wealthy settlement @ Hooghly in West Bengal.
 Exchange of envoys and ambassadors b/w Goa and many of the major kingdoms.
 Treaties between Goa and the Deccan sultans in 1570, which were regularly renewed.
  Always had a role to play in the successive battles for the balance of power between Vijayanagara and
the Deccan sultans, between the Deccanis and the Mughals, and between the Mughals and the
Marathas.
 The first Europeans to come last to leave this land- 1961 before the Government of India recaptured Goa,
Daman and Diu from them.

Portuguese Administration in India

 The head of the administration - viceroy -three years, with his secretary, in later years, a council.
 Vedor da Fazenda, responsible for revenues and the cargoes and dispatch of fleets.
 The fortresses, from Africa to China, were under captains, assisted by ‘factors’,

Religious Policy of the Portuguese

 Moors - bitter enemies in North Africa. So were the Arabs. Intolerant towards the Muslims, over time,
after Inquisition in Goa, Hindus were also persecuted.
 Good impression b4 Akbar, 1st mission called -1579, Rodolfo Aquaviva and Antonio Monserrate, 1580,
Second mission called by Akbar in 1590 – 1592, third mission- 1595 at Lahore.
 Fathers Jerome Xavier and Emanuel Pinheiro’s letters – info on the later part of Akbar’s reign.
 Prince Salim –Neglected jesuits. Gradually, in 1606, he renewed his favours - church at Lahore was
allowed to be retained. 1608, a number of baptisms were carried out in Agra, arrogant actions on the part of
the Portuguese viceroys created a rift with the Mughal emperor.
 Portuguese Lose Favour with the Mughals In 1608.
 Captain William Hawkins - ship Hector reached Surat with letter from James I, King of England, to
Jahangir, requesting permission to do business in India. gave favourable reception in 1609.
 Hawkins knew the Turki language . pleased with Hawkins, Jahangir appointed him as a mansabdar
of 400 at a salary of Rs 30,000 (apparently, he never received it). Hawkins – married daughter of an
Armenian Christian -Mubarak Shah (Mubarikesha).
 Truce between the Portuguese and the Mughal emperor. The Portuguese stopped the English ships from
entering the port of Surat. Hawkins left the Mughal court in 1611.
 1612, the English ship Dragon under Captain Best along with a little ship, the Osiander, successfully
fought a Portuguese fleet.
  The Portuguese acts of piracy, In 1613, the capturing Mughal ships, imprisoning Muslims, and
plundering the cargoes. enraged Jahangir ordered Muqarrab Khan, -in charge of Surat, to obtain
compensation.
 However, during the reign of Shah Jahan, advantages were lost forever.
 Capture of Hooghly on the basis of an imperial farman circa 1579, the Portuguese had settled at Satgaon
in Bengal , migration of the trade from Satgaon to the new port known as Hooghly.
 They monopolised the manufacture of salt, built a custom house of their own,
 Duty on tobacco as it was an important article of trade since beginning of the 17th century.
 started a cruel slave trade by purchasing or seizing Hindu and Muslim children & brought up as
Christians. seized two slave girls of Mumtaz Mahal.
 1632, the Mughal siege of Hooghly began, ending in its capture three months later. Shah Jahan ordered
the Bengal governor Qasim Khan to take action, led to the Portuguese fleeing.
 The prisoners were offered the option to convert to Islam or become slaves. The persecution of Christians
continued for some time after which it died down gradually.

Decline of the Portuguese

 lost commercial influence, many took to piracy and robbery. Hooghly, base for piracy ( BOB)
 emergence of powerful dynasties in Egypt, Persia, and North India, Marathas (The Marathas captured
Salsette and Bassein in 1739 from the Portuguese.)
 The religious policies of the Portuguese, arrogance and violence.
 The discovery of Brazil diverted colonising activities of Portugal to the West.
 The union of kingdoms of Spain and Portugal in 1580–81, Spain’s wars with England and Holland,
badly affected Portuguese monopoly in India.
 Dutch and the English skills of ocean navigation.
 The spice trade came under the control of the Dutch, and Goa was superseded by Brazil as the economic
centre. In 1683, after two naval assaults, the Marathas invaded Goa.
Significance of the Portuguese
 Initiated European era.
 The Cholas had been a naval power, first time a foreign power had come to India by sea.
 Ships carried cannon, In the Malabar of the 16th century, the Portuguese showed military innovation in
their use of body armour, matchlock men and guns landed from the ships.
 The Portuguese may have contributed to the Mughal use of field guns, and the ‘artillery of the
stirrup’.
 Military contribution - system of drilling groups of infantry, on the Spanish model, introduced in the
1630s as a counter to Dutch pressure. The practice was adopted first by the French and English, and later
taken up by the Marathas and Sikhs, and such armies of sepoys became new tools of empire in India.
 Multi-decked ships were heavily constructed, this permitted them to carry a heavier armament. Their use
of castled prow and stern method by which to repel or launch boarding parties.
 Skill at organisation—creation of royal arsenals and dockyards and the maintenance of a regular system
of pilots and mapping and pitting state forces against private merchant shipping—was even more
noteworthy.
 Missionaries and the Church were also teachers and patrons in India of the arts of the painter, carver, and
sculptor. As in music, they were the interpreters, not just of Portuguese, but of European art to India.
 The art of the silversmith and goldsmith flourished in Goa, and the place became a centre of elaborate
filigree work, fretted foliage, work, and metal work embedding jewels. Interior of churches built under
the Portuguese have plenty of woodwork and sculpture and sometimes painted ceilings, simple
architectural plan.
UNIT 5-The Struggle Begins Chapters 10 and 11
CHAPTER 10 Beginning of Modern Nationalism in India

Factors in the Growth of Modern Nationalism

Indian nationalism as a product of a mix of various factors:
(i) Worldwide upsurge of the concepts of nationalism ,French Revolution
(ii) Indian Renaissance
(iii) Offshoot of modernisation initiated by the British in India
(iv) Strong reaction to British imperialist policies in India

Understanding of Contradictions in Indian and Colonial Interests

 Realisation that colonial rule was the major cause of India’s economic backwardness
 Interests of the Indians involved the interests of all sections and classes

Political, Administrative, and Economic Unification of the Country

 The British rule extended from the Himalayas to the Cape Comorin and from Assam Khyber Pass in the
west. larger state than that of the Mauryas or the great Mughals.
 While Indian provinces were under ‘direct’ British rule, the princely states were under ‘indirect’ British
rule. The British sword imposed political unity in India.
 A professional civil service, a unified judiciary and codified civil and criminal laws imparted a new
dimension of political unity to the hitherto cultural unity that had existed in India for centuries.
 The necessities of administrative convenience, military defence, economic penetration and commercial
exploitation (all in British interests) - forces behind the planned development of modern means of
transport and communication such as railways, roads, electricity, and telegraph.

From the nationalists’ point of view, this process of unification had a two-fold effect:
I. The economic fate of the people got linked together - failure of crops in one region affected the prices and
supply in another region.
II. Modern means of transport and communication brought people, leaders, from different regions together.
III. This was important for the exchange and for mobilisation of public opinion & political ideas.
Western Thought and Education
 The introduction of a modern system of education afforded -assimilation of modern Western ideas- new
direction to Indian political thinking.
 The English language helped nationalist leaders from different linguistic regions to communicate with
each other.
 There they saw the working of modern political institutions in a free country ever-expanding English
educated class formed the middle-class intelligentsia who constituted the nucleus for the newly arising
political unrest. It was this section which provided leadership to the Indian political associations.

Role of Press and Literature

The second half of the 19th century - growth of Indian-owned English and vernacular newspapers,
In 1877, there were about 169 newspapers published in vernacular languages and their circulation reached the
neighbourhood of 1,00,000.

Rediscovery of India’s Past

The historical researches by European scholars, such as Max Mueller, Monier Williams, Roth and Sassoon, and
by Indian scholars such as R.G. Bhandarkar, R.L. Mitra, and later Swami Vivekananda, created an entirely new
picture of India’s past.
The theory put forward by European scholars, that the Indo-Aryans belonged to the same ethnic group from
which other nations of Europe had evolved, gave a psychological boost to the educated Indians. demolished
colonial myths that India had a long history of servility to foreign rulers.

Progressive Character of Socio-religious Reform Movements

These reform movements sought to remove social evils which divided the Indian society; this had the effect of
bringing different sections together and proved to be an important factor in the growth of Indian nationalism.
Rise of Middle-Class Intelligentsia British administrative and economic innovations gave rise to a new urban
middle class in towns. According to Percival Spear, “The new middle class was a well-integrated all-India class
with varied background but a common foreground of knowledge, ideas and values.... It was a minority of Indian
society, but a dynamic minority.... It had a sense of unity of purpose and of hope.” This class, prominent because
of its education, new position, and its close ties with the ruling class, came to the forefront. The leadership to
the Indian National Congress in all its stages of growth was provided by this class. Impact of Contemporary
Movements in the World Rise of a number of nations on the ruins of the Spanish and Portuguese empires in
South America, and the national liberation movements of Greece and Italy in general and of Ireland in particular
deeply influenced the nationalist ranks.

Reactionary Policies and Racial Arrogance of Rulers

Racial myths of white superiority were sought to be perpetuated by the British through a deliberate policy of
discrimination and segregation. Indians felt deeply hurt by this. Lytton’s reactionary policies such as reduction of
maximum age limit for the I.C.S. examination from 21 years to 19 years (1876), the grand Delhi Durbar of 1877
when the country was in the severe grip of famine, the Vernacular Press Act (1878), and the Arms Act (1878)
provoked a storm of opposition in the country. Then came the Ilbert Bill controversy. Ripon’s Government had
sought to abolish “judicial disqualification based on race distinctions” and to give the Indian members of the
covenanted civil service the same powers and rights as those enjoyed by their European colleagues. Ripon had
to modify the bill, thus almost defeating the original purpose, because of the stiff opposition from the European
community. It became clear to the nationalists that justice and fair play could not be expected where interests
of the European community were involved. However, the organised agitation by the Europeans to revoke the
Ilbert Bill also taught the nationalists how to agitate for certain rights and demands.

Political Associations before the Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress was not the first political organisation in India. However, most of the political
associations in the early half of the 19th century were dominated by wealthy and aristocratic elements. They
were local or regional in character. Through long petitions to the British Parliament most of them demanded—
● administrative reforms; ● association of Indians with the administration; and ● spread of education. The
political associations of the second half of the 19th century came to be increasingly dominated by the educated
middle class—the lawyers, journalists, doctors, teachers, etc.,—and they had a wider perspective and a larger
agenda.

Political Associations in Bengal

The Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha was formed in 1836 by associates of Raja Rammohan Roy. The Zamindari
Association, more popularly known as the ‘Landholders’ Society’, was founded to safeguard the interests of the
landlords. Although limited in its objectives, the Landholders’ Society marked the beginning of an organised
political activity and use of methods of constitutional agitation for the redressal of grievances. The Bengal British
India Society was founded in 1843 with the object of “the collection and dissemination of information relating to
the actual condition of the people of British India... and to employ such other means of peaceful and lawful
character as may appear calculated to secure the welfare, extend the just rights and advance the interests of all
classes of our fellow subjects”. In 1851, both the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society
merged into the British Indian Association. It sent a petition to the British Parliament demanding inclusion of
some of its suggestions in the renewed Charter of the Company, such as: (i) establishment of a separate
legislature of a popular character; (ii) separation of executive from judicial functions; (iii) reduction in salaries of
higher officers; and (iv) abolition of salt duty, abkari, and stamp duties. These were partially accepted when the
Charter Act of 1853 provided for the addition of six members to the governor general’s council for legislative
purposes. The East India Association was organised by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866 in London to discuss the Indian
question and influence public men in England to promote Indian welfare. Later, branches of the association
were started in prominent Indian cities. The Indian League was started in 1875 by Sisir Kumar Ghosh with the
object of “stimulating the sense of nationalism amongst the people” and of encouraging political education. The
Indian Association of Calcutta (also known as the Indian National Association) superseded the Indian 260 ✫ A
Brief History of Modern India League and was founded in 1876 by younger nationalists of Bengal led by
Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose, who were getting discontented with the conservative and pro-
landlord policies of the British Indian Association. The Indian Association was the most important of pre
Congress associations and aimed to “promote by every legitimate means the political, intellectual and material
advancement of the people.” It set out to: (i) create a strong public opinion on political questions; and (ii) unify
Indian people in a common political programme. It protested against the reduction of age limit in 1877 for
candidates of the Indian Civil Service examination. The association demanded simultaneous holding of civil
service examination in England and India and Indianisation of higher administrative posts. It led a campaign
against the repressive arms act and the vernacular press act. Branches of the association were opened in other
towns and cities of Bengal and even outside Bengal. The membership fee was kept low in order to attract the
poorer sections to the association. The association sponsored an all-India conference which first took place in
Calcutta from December 28 to 30, 1883. More than hundred delegates from different parts of the country
attended. So, in a way, the association was a forerunner of the Indian National Congress as an all-India
nationalist organisation. It later merged with the Indian National Congress in 1886. Political Associations in
Bombay The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded in 1867 by Mahadev Govind Ranade and others, with the
object of serving as a bridge between the government and the people. The Bombay Presidency Association was
started by Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta, and K.T. Telang in 1885. Political Associations in Madras The
Madras Mahajan Sabha was founded in 1884 by M. Viraraghavachari (also, Veeraraghavachariar), B. Subramania
Aiyer, and P. Ananda- charlu. Beginning of Modern Nationalism in India ✫ 261 Pre-Congress Campaigns The
associations organised various campaigns before the Indian National Congress appeared on the scene. These
campaigns were: (i) for imposition of import duty on cotton (1875) (ii) for Indianisation of government service
(1878–79) (iii) against Lytton’s Afghan adventure (iv) against Arms Act (1878) (v) against Vernacular Press Act
(1878) (vi) for right to join volunteer corps (vii) against plantation labour and against Inland Emigration Act (viii)
in support of Ilbert Bill (ix) for an All-India Fund for Political Agitation (x) campaign in Britain to vote for pro-India
party (xi) against reduction in maximum age for appearing in Indian Civil Service; the Indian Association took up
this question and organised an all-India agitation against it, popularly known as the Indian Civil Service agitation.

Summary ● Factors in Growth of Modern Nationalism Understanding of contradictions in Indian and colonial
interests Political, administrative, and economic unification of the country Western thought and education Role
of press and literature Rediscovery of India’s past—historical researches Rise of middle-class intelligentsia
Impact of contemporary movements worldwide Reactionary policies and racial arrogance of rulers ● Political
Associations Before Indian National Congress 1836—Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha 1843—Bengal British India
Society 1851—British Indian Association 1866—East India Association Zamindari Association or Landholders’
Society 1870—Poona Sarvajanik Sabha 1875—Indian League 1876—Indian Association of Calcutta or Indian
National Association 1885—Bombay Presidency Association 1884—Madras Mahajan Sabha