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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Tag Archives: English
Europeans in India Part 8 The English East India Company Section III: Early Decades – The Steady March
March 17, 2023 
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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 […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India Part 8 The English East India Company Section II: Coalescing as an Entity
March 5, 2023 0 Comments
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 […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India Part 7 The Dutch Enter the Fray Section III Commercial Activities – The Malabar (Kerala) Coast
February 11, 2023 0 Comments
Canberra 11 February 2023 In the narrative of the Dutch involvement in the Indian sub-continent, the term, Malabar coast and Kerala coast could be used interchangeably, for unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch were active across the entire coast of Kerala, which consisted of the three major kingdoms—Malabar, Cochin and Travancore. Kerala, the realm of the […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India Part 7 The Dutch Enter the Fray Section II Commercial Activities – Gujarat, The Coromandel & Bengal
January 29, 2023 0 Comments
Canberra, 29 January 2023 The Dutch arrived in India and faced great opposition from the Portuguese, who pushed back with force. The animosity was such that they moved on to the Far-East and established themselves in today’s Indonesia. From their base in the archipelago, they made gradual and initially surreptitious inroads into South Asia, initially […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India – Part 7 The Dutch Enter the Fray Section I: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)
January 20, 2023 0 Comments
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 […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 22 Ruling the Waves Section IV: A Requiem for the Maratha Navy
October 4, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 04 October 2022 There is no mention of the Peshwa possessing a naval fleet up to the mid-1700s, even in any of the treaties concluded with the Europeans. The first mention of a Peshwa fleet is in the treaty that he signed with the English in 1739 and then again in 1740–41 in the […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 22 Ruling the Waves: The Maratha Navy Section III: The House of Angre is Brought Down
October 4, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 04 October 2022 Kanhoji Angre had many children from several wives and concubines, of whom six sons are known by name in history—Sekhoji, Sambhaji, Manaji, Tulaji, Yesaji and Dhonaji. Sekhoji, probably the eldest son, succeeded to his father’s position without any contest or dissention from his siblings, receiving the robes of investiture from the […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 22 Ruling the Waves: The Maratha Navy Section II: Kanhoji Angre Takes Over
October 4, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 04 October 2022 The crisis that followed Shivaji’s death was such that the fledgling Maratha kingdom was at the doors of extinction under constant Mughal and Muslim onslaught. The Maratha polity was saved by the efforts of a number of extraordinarily talented young men who willingly came forward to shoulder the enormous responsibilities of […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 22 Ruling the Waves: The Maratha Navy Section I: Shivaji Lays the Foundation
October 4, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra 04 October 2022 A seafaring tradition had existed among the people of the Western Coast of Maharashtra for centuries, although there is no evidence of any attempt at creating a naval power before the 14th century. It could be said that the sea was a new and untested element for the Marathas, in terms […]
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