British Conquest of Bengal

 

 

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.