British Conquest of Bengal
The
British East India Company was formed in England on 31 December 1600. The
purpose of this company was to have trade with the eastern countries especially
India. The year 1609 is important as far as the sojourn of East India Company
with India was concerned. In this year Captain William Hawkins reached the
court of the then Mughal Emperor viz. Jehangir. Jehangir was the son of the
most famous Mughal Emperor Akbar. Captain William Hawkins had reached the
Mughal Court in order to seek the permission to open a British factory at
Surat. It is to be noted that Surat was one of the busiest ports and in a way
international centre of trade at that point of time. It was then the part of
Mughal empire. Hence, naturally English were interested in having their trading
post or factory in Surat. But, Emperor Jehangir denied the permission to
British as he did not want to antagonize other Europeans present in India at
that point of time, and they were Portuguese.
The
British East India Company traders after their failure to establish factory at
Surat went southwards and formed a factory at Masulipatnam on eastern coast of
India in modern day Andhra Pradesh. The British trading post at Masulipatnam was
started in 1611 and it was converted into a factory in 1616. Meantime Mughal
Emperor Jehangir also gave permission to British to open factory at Surat and
accordingly they established factory at Surat in 1613. Subsequently the Mughal
Court gave permission to British East India Company to open factories at Agra,
Ahmedabad and Bhadoch.
In
1633 the East India Company opened its factory at Balasore located on the coast
of modern day Odisha. In 1639 the British obtained what is known as Madras
today and built a factory over there named as Fort St. George. In 1668 the
British East India Company acquired the islands of Bombay on western coast of
India i.e. modern day Maharashtra. These islands were given on lease to the
East India Company by the then King of England viz. Charles II. King Charles II
had acquired it from Portugal royal family as a dowry after marrying Portuguese
princess Catherine of Braganza.
The
British opened their factory at Hugli in 1651. They also got the trading rights
in Bengal. The British bought the villages of Sutanuti, Govindpur and Kalikata.
This purchase deal was completed in 1690. Later on these three villages were
developed into a city of Calcutta (today’s Kolkata). The factory or
headquarters of British in Calcutta was named as Fort William.
The
British East India Company further ensured many trade concessions from Mughals
to trade in Gujarat, Bengal and Hyderabad. The Mughal Emperor who gave these
concessions to British was Farukhsiyar.
Murshid
Kuli Khan could be credited with the independence of Bengal from Mughal empire.
In 1701 Aurangzeb, the then Mughal Emperor appointed Murshid Kuli Khan as the
Governor of Bengal. Afterwards even Orissa (Odisha) was put under his control.
After the death of Aurangzeb, Murshid Kuli Khan declared Bengal as an
independent state seceding away from Mughal empire. Aurangzeb died in 1707 in Maharashtra.
It was his lifelong dream to defeat Marathas but he was not able to achieve it.
Ultimately he died in Maratha country but could not defeat them. Murshid Kuli
Khan died in 1727 and his son-in-law Shuja-ud-Din became the ruler of Bengal. In
1739 Alivardi Khan ended the rule of house of Murshid Kuli Khan. Alivardi Khan
was succeeded by Siraj-u-Daula. It was during the time of Siraj-u-Daula the
history changing Battle of Plassey was fought in 1757.
When
Bengal became independent from Mughal empire the conflict started between the
Nawabs of Bengal and British East India servants. In 1717 Farukhsiyar, the then
Mughal Emperor issued farman which acknowledged the free trading rights
to British East India Company traders given to them earlier. But, the servants
of British East India Company were also taking advantage of it. Hence, the
Nawabs of Bengal started resenting it. Siraj-u-Daula, especially was unhappy
with British officers misusing the farman issued by Farukhsiyar originally
for traders or company. Apart from it there were instances of British East
India Company’s involvement in internal matters of Bengal. One of such
incidents was that they had given refuge and protection to one Krishna Vallabh.
The Nawab of Bengal was angry with Krishna Vallabh as he was charged with the
fraud by the Nawab.
Another
issue which proved to be a bone of contention between Nawab and British East
India Company was the mounting of guns by them on the walls of Fort William in
Calcutta. Siraj-u-Daula did not like it. He thought this action on the part of
British was the challenge to the sovereign authority of the Nawab. Hence, the Bengal army marched on Fort
William in order to teach a lesson to British. It led to the so called Black
Hole Incident, wherein many British people which included both men and women
were forcibly locked down in a small room. When the doors of this room were
opened most of them had died. This incident is known as the Black Hole
Incident. The British decided to avenge the death of British people.
The Battle
of Plassey was fought on 23 June 1757. It was a namesake battle as Mir Jafar,
the Commander-in-chief of Siraj-u-Daula had a secret understanding with
British. Most of the troops of Nawab remained silent spectators and victory was
gifted to British on platter.
Mir
Jafar, in turn was awarded the Nawabship of Bengal. Siraj-u-Daula was caught
and murdered. Mir Jafar gave free hand to British in Bengal and British
literally started plundering Bengal. Around 1760 Mir Jafar was replaced and Mir
Qasim was appointed as the Nawab of Bengal by British. Mir Qasim also could not
fulfill the monetary demands of British for a long period of time. Hence, he
was forced by British to run away from Bengal. Mir Qasim ran away and took
refuge in the court of Nawab of Awadh. The Nawab of Awadh at that point of time
was Shuja-u-Daola. In his court one more person had taken refuge at the same time.
The name of this person was Shah Alam II, the then Mughal Emperor. These three
i.e. Mir Qasim, Shuja-u-Daola and Shah Alam II formed an alliance and fought
against British and the result was the famous Battle of Buxar of 1764. In the Battle
of Buxar, British defeated all these three and the way for final conquest of
Bengal by British was paved or cleared.
Mir
Jafar and his son Nizam-ud-daula were brought back in limelight by British
after the defeat of Mir Qasim. They were appointed as Nawabs of Bengal one
after another. Shah Alam II was forced to grant the Diwani i.e. revenue
rights of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to British. Shuja-u-Daola was made to pay
Rs. 50 lakhs to British and also to award the trade rights in Awadh to the
British.
Robert
Clive later on introduced the famous Dual System in Bengal. Under this system
the Nawab would have namesake power and the real power rested with British. This
Dual System was brought to an end in 1772 by Warren Hastings who became the
first British Governor General of Bengal. Thus, the fate of Bengal was sealed
and by 1772 Bengal became the part of British empire in India. And the direct
British rule started on Bengal.
After
Bengal British turned their attention towards other territories in India. They
followed the policies of war, Subsidiary Alliance System, Doctrine of Lapse,
etc. and brought most of the land in India under direct British rule. The British
East India Company got a major shock in the year 1857 in the form of the Great
Revolt. This uprising of Indians is known as the Revolt of 1857. It took nearly
hundred years from 1757 onwards for Indians to stage a rebellion on great scale
in 1857. The Revolt of 1857 though was a failure but brought an end to British
expansionist policy in India.