IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From 8th to Mid 15th Century

The European Trading Companies

Structure

25.0 Objectives
25.1 Introduction
25.2 European Trading Companies in India: 1600-1750 1
25.2.1 The Dutch East India Company
25.2.2 The English East India Company
25.2.3 The French East India Company
25.2.4 Other European Trading Companies
25.3 Factories and Their Organisation
25.3.1 The Dutch
25.3.2 The English
25.3.3 The French
25.4 Parental Contact and Control
25.4.1 The Dutch
25.4.2 The English
25.4.3 The French
25.5 The Indian Rulers and the European Companies
25.5.1 The Dutch
25.5.2 The English
25.5.3 The French
25.6 Let Us Sum Up
25.7 Key Words
25.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

25.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit, you will learn about:

• the growth and expansion of the European trading companies in India;
• the European factories and the pattern of their internal organisation;
• the nature of state control over the European trading companies; and
• the 11 lian rulers' response and attitude towards these trading companies.

25.1 INTRODUCTION

In the preseot Unit, our discussion will confine to the European settlements in India
till the close of our period, organisation of the factories of European trading
companies in India and their relations with their parent countries and the
MughaUIndian rulers. We have already discussed in detail the organisation, location
and the nature of the trading activities of the Portuguese in India in Unit 4 of Block
1. Here, the details of armed confrontations between the European companies and
Indian states are omitted (for these details see course EHI-05). Questions concerning
the trading interests of the European companies have been dealt with in Unit 23 of
this Block.
The evolution of Nation States in Europe broke the European 'unified single
economic system'. This coincided with the agricultural and industrial revolutions in
Europe. Mercantilism also played its own role. All these factors created the need to
look for new markets. With home markets having limited scope for consumption,
foreign markets were the only answer. However, as you have already read in Unit 4,
at tl.ar tit LL t e merchants of Venice and Genoa were enjoying trade monopoly over
the Eastern Seas. There was strong urge on the part of other European merchants to
bresk their monopoly, and hence the search for alternative routes to the East. This
was possible because of great advance in shipbuilding and navigational technologies.
It ultimately resulted in'the discovery of a new route to the East via the Cape of
Good Hope. This led to the European monopoly over the seas-first by the 

Click here to download full Chapter

Courtesy: eGyanKosh