Who were the English East India Company? How they conquered India?

I think you all might think that English East India just came to India and conquered it by fighting killing which they used to do. But wait! Guess what? They didn’t come to India to conquer it!!! They came as a Mercantile company to come and trade with India after the route to connect to East Asia was blocked by Ottoman Turks. This chaos caused a race that who will find the route to East Asia first? The first person to reach Asia through the Atlantic Ocean was none other than Vasco da Gama. Christopher Columbus also marched to find a route to Asia but eventually found America. The Portuguese started to trade with India. Then in the 17th century AD, Queen Elizabeth I permitted them to trade with India. In India, Jahangir, the son and successor of Akbar- the Great permitted them to trade with India. Their first base was Surat, in Gujarat. After their expansion, they started to interfere in the internal affairs of politics in India which seemed one of the symptoms of Imperialism in India.

Now, how come these European countries such as France, English started Imperialism in India?

Why did these countries needed geographical expansion at that time?

Because they were an industrialized nation and to fulfil the need of their citizens they needed more cheap labour and more raw material and when these products are being made in large quantities then they needed to dump the remaining finished products to these imperialist countries which became their hub for revenues from which they can run their company and can also earn profits.

Now, what were the qualities of these imperialist countries which made them one of the most powerful countries in the world?

1- They had a stable government which was in majority in their parliament.

2- They were industrialized countries that had good reserves of coal and other materials needed for industrialization.

3- Without important technological changes, the first Industrial Revolution would not have been possible. In the 18th century, Britain’s cotton industry charged ahead of many other countries.

(I)With James Hargreaves’ invention of the Spinning Jenny in 1764, yarn could be produced in greater quantities.

(II) In 1787, Edmund Cartwright’s power loom revolutionized the speed of cloth weaving.

(III) In the 1760s, the steam engine (developed by James Watt) further transformed the cotton industry.

4- They had a good transportation system like trains.

5- They were economically strong countries.

6- They had a powerful military and navy which played a key role in imperialism.

Now the main story starts:

After being in India for so long and after the letter of Robert Clive to William Pitt in 1759 about India.

“So large a sovereignty may possibly be an object too expensive for a mercantile company; and it is feared that they are not themselves able, without the nation’s assistance, to maintain so wide a dominion.”

Letter by Robert Clive to William Pitt in 1756 about India.

After this letter was been given to Queen, she immediately ordered the English East India company to start annexing the kingdoms in India since she felt that it can be a gem of pride for their country.

The year 1757:- Battle of Plassey was the first step to conquer India. It was a decisive win for East India Company, led by Robert Clive against Nawab of Bengal and eventually, they got control of the whole of Bengal which had numerous sea routes that can help them to transport goods to other countries too.

Carnatic Wars (1746–1763): The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India’s coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1746 and 1763. The powerful East India Company won the war and now conquered the coasts of South India.

The Year 1764:- The Battle of Buxar was fought in 1764, between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, Nawab of Bengal till 1764; the Nawab of Awadh Shuja-ud-Daula; and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II accompanied by Raja Balwant Singh of Kashi. Eventually, the combined army once again lost against East India Company.

After these wars and battles, one after the other the kingdoms were annexed and then after conquering Oudh and Punjab Kingdom at last by 1856 and 1839 respectively.

Here comes one of the bravest of all the battles:

Mutiny of 1857: Mutiny of 1857 was one of the biggest battles ever fought in the history of India but ultimately unsuccessful war since Company grew so much powerful and the people employed in Company were Indians only so hence proved that

“Unite we stand, Divide we fall.”

but still kings and queens from other kingdoms joined hands to fight against this Company. Some of the king and queens names are mentioned below along with their pictures:

1- Bahadur Shah Zafar (Mughal King who had now only areas surrounding Old Delhi)

2- Rani Lakshmi Bai (Queen of Jhansi)-

3- Begum Hazrat Mahal (Queen of Oudh annexed by Britishers barely a year ago)-

4- Nana Saheb (Peshwa of Pune)

During this Mutiny of 1857, many sieges were also led such as Kanpur, Lucknow and many more but East India company didn’t kneel in front of India which cleared us that we won’t be able to free India now.

After the Mutiny and Battles, the East India Company remained dominant and here this story ends. The East India Company conquered India and some historians also apparently declared that Britishers stole around $25 trillion from India since at the time when they arrived, India was around 30% of the whole economy of the world.

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