NCERT Solutions Class 8th History Chapter – 2 From Trade to Territory Notes- for example Does India have constitution, Who is called father of Constitution, What are the two types of constitution, Why who wrote a constitution Who wrote first constitution, Who wrote Indian law, Who was the first written constitution, Which country has first Constitution, What is a Constitution answer?, How many countries have written Constitution, What is the smallest constitution in the world?
NCERT Solutions Class 8th History Chapter – 2 From Trade to Territory
Chapter – 2
From Trade to Territory
Notes
East India Company Comes East – In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to East India Company for a monopoly of trade with nations in the east. Trading companies made efforts to maximise profit by eliminating rivals in trade.
East India Company Begins Trade in Bengal – The first factory of East India Company, which worked as a warehouse and base for the workers of the company, was established in 1651. The workers were known as ‘factors’. As trade expanded, the company persuaded merchants to settle near the factory.
The Battle of Plassey – Sirajuddaulah succeeded Ali Vardi Khan. He faced the armies and the naval fleet of the East India Company at Plassey in the year 1757. The British army was led by Robert Clive who managed to crush the forces of the Nawab, thus winning the first major battle and making it a historic landmark.
The Battle of Buxar – Mir Jafar became the new Nawab, and in return, he gave huge amounts of revenue to East India Company and its officials. East India Company felt it as the best way of earning profits and started exchanging with nawabs regularly. Mir Kasim was made the Nawab after Mir Jafar, and when he posed danger to their existence, East India Company replaced him again by Mir Jafar.
The Battle of Buxar – Mir Jafar became the new Nawab, and in return, he gave huge amounts of revenue to East India Company and its officials. East India Company felt it as the best way of earning profits and started exchanging with nawabs regularly. Mir Kasim was made the Nawab after Mir Jafar, and when he posed danger to their existence, East India Company replaced him again by Mir Jafar.
Tipu Sultan -The Tiger of Mysore: The company engaged in a direct conflict only when a native state became detrimental to the company’s rule in the subcontinent. Mysore emerged as a potential threat under Haidar Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan.
War with the Marathas – The Third Battle of Panipat shattered the dreams of the Marathas to rule India from Delhi. It also led to the division of Maratha confederacy. Four chiefs ruled from four centres under a Peshwa based in Pune.
Subsidiary Alliance – A policy introduced by Lord Wellesley through which Indian states were to accept a British resident and had to disband their army. East India Company deployed its troops and their maintenance was borne by Indian rulers.
Mercantile – The word refers to a business enterprise that makes profit primarily through trade, buying goods cheap and selling them at higher prices.
East India Company begins trade in Bengal – The first English factory was set up on the banks of the river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from which the Company’s traders, known at that time as “factors”, operated. The factory had a warehouse where goods for export were stored, and it had offices where Company officials sat. As trade expanded, the Company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. By 1696, it began building a fort around the settlement. Two years later, it bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over three villages. One of these was Kalikata, which later grew into the city of Calcutta or Kolkata as it is known today. It also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the Company the right to trade duty free.
How trade led to battles – Through the early eighteenth century, the conflict 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 powers were doing at that time. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler.
The 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. So it tried, though without success, to help one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals become the nawab. An infuriated 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.
Company officials become “nabobs”- What did it mean to be nawabs? It meant of course that the Company acquired more power and authority. But it also meant something else. Each company servant began to have visions of living like nawabs.
Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”- The Company resorted to direct military confrontation when it saw a threat to its political or economic interests. This can be illustrated with the case of the southern Indian state of Mysore.
War with the Marathas – From the late eighteenth century, the Company also sought to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power. With their defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Marathas’ dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered. They were divided into many states under different chiefs (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were held together in a confederacy under a Peshwa (Principal Minister) who became its effective military and administrative head based in Pune. Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis were two famous Maratha soldiers and statesmen of the late eighteenth century.
The claim to paramountcy – It is clear from the above that from the early nineteenth century, the Company pursued an aggressive policy of territorial expansion. Under Lord Hastings (Governor-General from 1813 to 1823), a new policy of “paramountcy” was initiated. Now the Company claimed that its authority was paramount or supreme, hence its power was greater than that of Indian states. In order to protect its interests, it was justified in annexing or threatening to annex any Indian kingdom. This view continued to guide later British policies as well.
The Doctrine of Lapse – The final wave of annexations occurred under Lord Dalhousie who was the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. He devised a policy that came to be known as the Doctrine of Lapse. The doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir his kingdom would “lapse”, that is, become a part of Company territory. One kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this doctrine: Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854).
The Company army – Colonial rule in India brought in some new ideas of administration and reform but its power rested on its military strength. The Mughal army was mainly composed of cavalry (sawars: trained soldiers on horseback) and infantry, that is, paidal (foot) soldiers. They were given training in archery (teer-andazi) and the use of the sword. The cavalry dominated the army and the Mughal state did not feel the need to have a large professionally trained infantry. The rural areas had a large number of armed peasants and the local zamindars often supplied the Mughals with paidal soldiers.
Conclusion – Thus the East India Company was transformed from atrading company to a territorial colonial power. The arrivalof new steam technology in the early nineteenth centuryalso aided this process. Till then it would take anywherebetween six and eight months to travel to India by sea.Steamships reduced the journey time to three weeksenabling more Britishers and their families to come to afar-off country like India.
Factor – The Company traders were known at that time as factors.
Farman – A royal order during the Mughal period.
Puppet – The term here is used to refer to a person who is controlled by someone else.
Negotiation – A formal discussion between people in order to find a solution.
Charter – An official order or resolution.
Nabob – The British called the nawab as nabob, who was the symbol of power and authority.
Subsidiary alliance – As per the terms of this alliance, Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the company.
Injunction – Instruction.
Subservience – The act of being submissive.
Subservience – The act of being submissive.
Confederacy – Alliance.
Paramountcy – Being paramount or supreme.
The Doctrine of Lapse – This was a policy of the Company to annex kingdoms. As per this policy if an Indian ruler died without a male heir, his kingdom would become the part of the Company territory.
Qazi – A judge.
Mufti – A jurist of the Muslim community responsible for expounding the law that the Qazi would administer.
Impeachment – A trial by the House of Lords in England on charges of misconduct brought against a person in the House of Commons.
Confederacy – Alliance.
Paramountcy – Being paramount or supreme.
Sawar – Men on horses.
Dharmashastra – Sanskrit texts prescribing social rules and codes of behaviour. These were begun to compose from C. 500 BCE onwards.
Musket – A heavy gun u§ed by infantry soldiers.
Matchlock – An early type of gun in which the powder was ignited by a match.
1498 – Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, discovered the sea-route to India. 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. 1651 – The first English factory was set up on the banks of the river Hugli. 1696 – The Company began building a fort around the settlement. 1756 – Alivardi Khan died and Sirajuddaulah became the Nawab of Bengal. 1757 – The Battle of Plassey took place. 1764 – The Battle of Buxar took place. 1765 – The Mughal Emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. 1782 – 1799 – Tipu Sultan was the ruler of Mysore.
