THE ARRIVAL OF THE
BRITISH
BANGLADESH STUDIES
GRADE-9
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
•Students will get to know how and why the
British came to the subcontinent and how they
expanded their authority in the region in the
eighteenth century
WARM UP SESSION
Lets revisit your previous day’s learning
KEY WORDS
• Students will identify.
MAIN EVENTS
Timeline showing the main events in the history of the East
India Company
• 1600 Company formed
• 1615 Diplomatic agreement between Sir Thomas Roe and Mughal Emperor Jahangir
• 1633 Foothold in Bengal.
• 1670 King Charles II granted the company a series of Charters.
• 1757 Battle of Palashi
• 1769-70 The Great Famine
• 1784 India Act: British government takes control
• 1793 The Permanent Settlement Act
FOUNDATION OF THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY
• The British East India Company (EIC) was founded in December 1600 as
The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East
Indies by a group of businessmen, who obtained the Crown's charter from
Queen Elizabeth I for exclusive permission to trade in the East Indies for a
period of fifteen years.
ATTENTION SHIFTS FROM EAST INDIES TO INDIA
•The Company initially had 125 shareholders, and a capital of
£72,000. At first it made little impression on the Dutch control of the
spice trade and could not establish a lasting outpost in the East
Indies (modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia).
•Eventually, ships belonging to the EIC arrived in India, docking at
Surat, which was established as a trade transit point in 1608.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIRST FACTORY IN
INDIA
By 1610, the company built its first factory in the town of
Machilipatnam in the Coromandel Coast in the Bay of Bengal.
The high profits (some as high as 200%) reported by the Company
after landing in India, initially prompted King James I to grant
subsidiary licenses to other trading companies in Britain, such as the
Scottish East India Company.
In 1609, he renewed the charter given to the Company for an
indefinite period, but warned that poor profits would lead to the
cancellation of the charter..
AGREEMENTS WITH MUGHAL EMPEROR JAHANGIR
•The company asked the British government to open diplomatic
relations with the Mughal Empire so as to have an ally against the
Dutch. James I sent Sir Thomas Roe to the court of the Mughal
Emperor, Jahangir, and he gained for the British the right to
establish a factory at Surat.
• In return, the Company offered to provide European goods to the
Imperial Court. Gradually the EIC flourished under the good graces
of the Mughal Empire, trading in silk, indigo, cotton and saltpeter.
TRADE IN BENGAL
• In 1633, the East India Company set foot in Bengal by establishing a
factory at Hariharpur on the Mahanadi delta. On 2 February, the English
obtained a Farman from Emperor Shajahan permitting them to pursue
trade and commerce in Bengal.
• The most important privilege was obtained from the Bengal governor,
Shah Suja, who permitted the English to carry out trade in Bengal without
any customs duties, in lieu of an annual lump sum of just Rs. 3000.
• In 1668, a new factory was opened at Dhaka, the capital of Bengal. The
founding of Calcutta by Job Charnock in 1690 completed the process of
factory settlement and began the process of establishing political
dominance by the company in Bengal.
FEEDBACK QUESTIONS
• 1. Why did the British first come to India?
• 2. How did the East India Company establish its presence in the Indian subcontinent?
• 3. Find out more about Job Charnock. Is he really the founder of Calcutta?
• 4 Which person was responsible for ‘the founding of Kolkata’ in 1690?
• 5. Which British monarch granted the EIC its charter in 1600?
EVENTS LEADING UP TO BRITISH ANNEXATION OF THE
SUB-CONTINENT
• Struggles with France over control of India
• British take advantage of collapse of Mughal Empire
• British use of internal divisions in Bengal
• Conflict between the Nawab and the British
Details book page 111-112
REASONS OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NAWAB
AND THE BRITISH
Find out the information…. Book Page 112-113
THE BATTLE OF PALASHI
Find out the information “Why did the British win
the battle of Palashi in 1757?”…. Book page
114-115
FEEDBACK QUESTIONS
• 1. Explain why Sirajuddaula took up arms against the English.
• 2. What happened at Palashi in 1757?
• 3. Why is the Battle of Palashi so important in the history of Bengal?
• 4. Which Nawab of Bengal was defeated ‘in the Battle of Palashi’?
• 5. Name the war between Britain and France which began in 1756.
• 6. Who led the forces of the East India Company in that war?
DUAL ADMINISTRATION
•The revenue administration of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa was acquired in 1765. From 1765 to 1772, the
company shared revenues from Bengal but took no
responsibility in administering it. This system came to
be known as ‘dual administration’.
• [Details: book page115]
RULE BY THE EAST INDIAN COMPANY IN BENGAL
•After the battle of Palashi, the EIC ruled Bengal through a series of
puppet rulers, such as Mir-Jafar.
•The Diwani Treaty, negotiated by Clive in 1765, allowed the region to
be governed by collaborators including Mir-Jafar and Mir-Kaseem in
return for surplus revenues which were channeled to the company.
• The company made huge profits by operating a monopoly on trade,
and company merchants became accustomed to receiving personal
‘gifts’ which increased their wealth.
GREAT FAMINE OF (1769-70)
•Whilst the British made huge profits in Bengal, the local
people suffered. The consequence was the rapid decline of
agriculture and manufacturing and, finally, the great famine
of 1769- 70, which destroyed one third of the total
population of Bengal.
BRITISH GOVERNMENT TAKES DIRECT CONTROL
• in 1784, the British government passed the India Act and took direct control of
the Indian possessions.
• It appointed a Governor-General, who would have control of the three
presidencies. There would also be provincial governors and a
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
• The EIC continued to trade, but lost most of its administrative powers.
• Robert Clive’s opponents in Britain carried out an investigation into his behavior
in India. He was accused at the charge of ‘plundering India’,
• The disgrace, coupled with his addiction to opium, caused him to take his own
THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT OF 1793
• Lord Cornwallis had been Governor-General of India since 1786. His most
notable reform was the introduction of Permanent Settlement in Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa. Under this system, the method of taxation was reformed.
IMPACT OF FAMINE ON THE PEOPLE OF
BENGAL
Find out the information…. Book Page 116
PROBLEMS WITH TAX COLLECTION
•Previously, the right to collect taxes was given to the highest
bidder.
•As a result, the poor were often harassed as the bidder
wanted to make maximum money out of the business.
•The government sometimes suffered, too, when bidders
could not pay the Government. As a result of this
unsatisfactory system, the Government, the zamindars and
the peasants suffered a lot.
THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
•The main features of the Permanent Settlement were that the
zamindars who had so long been mere collectors of revenue
were made the permanent owners of the land, subject to the
payment of a fixed sum to the British. The British received a fixed
share of the total collection - about 10/11th of the zamindars’
collection in 1793.
•The zamindars were given security of ownership as long as there
was no non-payment of revenue.
IMPACT OF THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT
Find out the information…. Book page: 118
FEEDBACK QUESTIONS
• What caused the Great Famine?
• What is dual administration?
• Name any one of the three districts acquired by Britain in 1760.
• Why did the British introduce the Permanent Settlement?
• In what ways was it different to what had been before?
• What was the law of 1793 that changed the role of zamindars?
• What were zamindars required to do in order to own their land?
• Do you think the Permanent Settlement was a good thing or a bad thing for Bengal? Give evidence to
support both sides of the argument.
• Robert Clive is one of the more colourful British figures in the history of Bengal. Although he was the hero
who won the battle of Palashi, he ended up taking his own life. Research his life and work to explain why
