Tag Archives: England

Europeans in India Part 10 Anglo-French Rivalry Section II: Robert Clive Arrives on the Scene

Canberra, 26 May 2023 With Salabat Jang on the throne, French primacy in the Deccan was assured. The English displayed a surprising apathy to the developments that were steadily pushing them out of the competition to an extent where their continued trading presence in India itself was starting to be in doubt. Muhammad Ali, nominal […]

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Europeans in India Part 9 The French Arrive in India Section IV: Governor-General Joseph Francois Dupleix

Canberra, 3 May 2023 Francis Dupleix’s tenure as Director in Chandannagar was a great success. Nominally functioning under the Governor–General of Pondicherry, he was practically independent, acting on his own responsibility. His promptness in action was such that at times they were construed as rash and precipitate by his superiors in India and France. Dupleix […]

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Europeans in India Part 8 The English East India Company Section IV: Dealing with the Competition

Canberra, 22 March 2023 While continuing to fight a rear-guard action to safeguard their privileges and trade monopoly in the Home Country, the Company was also catering to a second requirement. From the very beginning, the Company had firmly believed that it must have full sway in the country where it was hoping to conduct […]

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Europeans in India Part 8 The English East India Company Section III: Early Decades – The Steady March

Canberra, 17 March 2023 The East India Company’s beginnings in India were not very promising, mainly because of the concerted Portuguese opposition and the inability of the English to obtain permission from the Mughal Viceroy of Gujarat to erect a factory in Surat. The Portuguese were opposed to any new arrivals in India and made […]

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Europeans in India Part 8 The English East India Company Section II: Coalescing as an Entity

Canberra, 5 March 2023 From its very inception, the East India Company was driven by three focused guiding principles: one, the preservation of its monopoly rights and privileges within England, regarding the trade with the East; two, the continuous planning and execution of actions to oust rival mercantile interests from the Indian Ocean region; and […]

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Europeans in India Part 8 The English East India Company Section I: Origins

Canberra, 5 March 2023 Before the 15th century, England was a backward agricultural country with no standing among the other kingdoms and States of the world. By the end of the 18th century, within a span of a mere three centuries, the same impoverished country had become the foremost political and economic power in Europe, […]

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Europeans in India – Part 7 The Dutch Enter the Fray Section I: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)

Canberra, 20 January 2023 Spain and Portugal, both staunchly Catholic countries, had divided the world between them at the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. England and Netherlands, or Holland as it is sometimes known, both protestant countries, refused to agree to this arbitrary decision, defending the principle that ‘the sea was as free as the […]

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