Advent of Europeans in India: Portuguese, Dutch, British & More | UPSC Notes

The advent of Europeans in India marked the beginning of a new era in the country's history. From humble beginnings as traders seeking profit, the Europeans would soon emerge as colonial rulers of vast tracts of Indian soil. The Portuguese were the first in 1498, led by Vasco da Gama, who arrived on the Malabar Coast. Trade flourished between India and European nations before the formal British Empire in India. India and Europe traded through land routes spanning Syria, Egypt, and the Oxus Valley. The 15th century marked a period of geographical discoveries, with Christopher Columbus finding America in 1492 and Vasco da Gama establishing a new sea route to India in 1498. Following these discoveries, various European trading companies arrived in India, with the Portuguese being the first, followed by the British, Dutch, Danes, and French, each eventually aspiring to become the political masters of India.

The advent of Europeans in India is an integral part of the UPSC IAS syllabus for the Prelims and Mains exams and the UPSC History Optional paper. Key events, impacts and consequences are high-yield topics for history questions. The UPSC aspirants can also get help from Testbook's UPSC CSE Coaching to boost their UPSC exam preparation! 

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The advent of Europeans in India

The advent of Europeans in India began in 1498 when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached Calicut by sea. This opened a direct sea route between Europe and India, marking the start of European influence. Following Portugal, the Dutch, English, French, and Danes arrived in India seeking trade dominance. These European powers established trading posts and later colonised parts of India. This period set the stage for centuries of European political and economic control in India.

The arrival of the European people in India turned the pages of the history of India.

• The landing of Vasco da Gama: He started with the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498, who established a direct waterway between Europe and India. This turning point started European colonialism and domination of trade in the sub-continent.
• Other Europeans: The other European powers, with the Portuguese in the lead, wanted to dominate the profitable spice trade and went on to build trading posts and fortifications along the Indian coast.
• Impact: They led to cultural interactions, conflicts with local leaders, and the reformation of the Indian society. This time has formed the background of centuries of European influence and rule in India.

Timeline of the Advent of Europeans in India

The table below shows the series of events during the advent of Europeans in India:

Arrival of the Portuguese in India

The first Europeans came to India in 1498. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama came from Portugal. The Portuguese came by ship. They wanted to trade with India.

• Before the Portuguese came, Arab traders controlled trade with India. The Portuguese wanted to break Arab control. They tried to sell things made in Portugal and buy Indian goods like spices.
• Vasco da Gama came to Calicut in India on May 20, 1498. Calicut had a ruler called the Zamorin. He controlled the spice trade. Vasco da Gama wanted to ask the Zamorin for permission to trade.
• The coming of the Portuguese to India changed India forever. The Portuguese conquered parts of India. They made places like Goa, Daman, Diu, and parts of Kerala part of Portugal.
• At first, trade with the Portuguese helped Portugal a lot. The Portuguese traded directly with Indian rulers. The Portuguese brought crops like potatoes, chilli peppers and cashews to India.
• But the Portuguese rulers were cruel to the Indians. They forced many Hindus and Muslims to become Christians. They took high taxes from Indian traders. They destroyed Hindu temples.
• After the Portuguese, other Europeans, such as the Dutch, French, and British, came to India for trade. They competed with the Portuguese for trade and land in India.
• Other Europeans broke Portuguese control of trade with India. By the late 1700s, the British had captured most of the Portuguese areas in India.
• When the Europeans came, many new things came to India. Crops, ideas, religions and goods were exchanged. Indian goods like spices, tea, textiles, and opium became important in Europe.
• The coming of the Europeans to India marked the time when European countries ruled India. It changed Indian society in significant ways.
• The trade with Europeans made some Indians very rich, but many Indian traders lost business. Indian trading on land became less critical.
• At first, the Europeans only wanted to trade. But they slowly wanted more land and power in India. The Europeans set up local administrations that became colonial rulers.
• The Portuguese were the first European rulers in India. They made colonies and traded places on the coast. They captured Goa in 1510 and ruled it for over 450 years.
• The Portuguese showed that Europeans had more powerful weapons than Indian rulers. This experience helped other European powers conquer more of India later.
• In short, the coming of Europeans to India changed India forever. It connected India to the world in new ways. But the effect was not good for India at all.

Reasons that led to the Portuguese Voyage to India

With the fall of the Roman Empire and Constantinople in 1453, the Arabs gained control over the trade routes of Egypt and Persia, leading to India. The Europeans ceased to come into direct contact with India, and the continued easy availability of Indian goods.

• Spirit of the voyage: Europe of the 15th century had a spirit in the Renaissance and the improvement of sailing to approach the East, which made voyagers eager to make expeditions across the ocean.
• Division by non-Christian world: Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) was a treaty between Portugal and Spain to divide the non-Christian world between the two countries, where Portugal was given the eastern part of the world and Spain the western on their part. This paved the way for the Portuguese invasion of Indian waters.

Portuguese Governors

Vasco da Gama

• Indian history was seriously affected when Vasco da Gama sailed into Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) in 1498. The Hindu king of Calicut, the Zamorin, welcomed him because the wealth of his kingdom was based on trade.
• But the Arab traders who were well established on the Malabar coast were also worried about the entry of the Portuguese with influence in the region.
• Portugal wanted to monopolise the lucrative eastern trade and keep their rivals, especially the Arabs, away.
• In 1501, Vasco da Gama revisited India but had to contend with the Zamorin, who did not take lightly when he tried to ban the Arab traders in favour of the Portuguese.

Francisco de Almeida (1505-1509) 

• • Francisco de Almeida was the next Governor of India and arrived in India in 1505 to not only consolidate the holdings of the Portuguese but also to destroy the trade of the Muslims.

• The Zamorin opposed Almeida, and the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt threatened him.

• In 1507, a Portuguese naval fleet met with its first defeat at the naval battle of Diu, but the defeat was avenged in 1508.

• In his Blue Water Policy, Almeida wished to dominate the Indian Ocean by turning the Portuguese into its masters.

• Blue Water Policy (Cartaze system): The Portuguese empire gave a trading licence or pass to carry on trading in the Indian Ocean in the sixteenth century. It is called so because the Portuguese word cartas refers to letters.

Alfonso de Albuquerque (1509-1515)

• Alfonso de Albuquerque replaced Almeida, and he established Portuguese settlements that overlooked the gateways of the Indian Ocean.
• Albuquerque obtained permission and control over the main shipbuilding centres.
• In 1510, Goa was conquered by the Sultan of Bijapur, and this was the first part of India to fall under European rule since Alexander the Great.
• The rule of Albuquerque also witnessed Portuguese men settling in India, where they positioned themselves as landlords, artisans, craftsmen and traders.
• The act, which was quite interesting during his reign, was the abolition of sati.

Nino de Cunha (1572-1636)

• He shifted the headquarters of Goa to Goa. 
• In 1534, the Portuguese captured the island of Bassein and its dependencies from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Still, their relationship went sour when Gujarat was vacated by the occupation of Humayun, who the Portuguese slew in a fight in 1537.
• Moreover, da Cunha tried to establish greater Portuguese power in Bengal as he brought a considerable number of Portuguese people to Bengal with Hooghly as the headquarters of the Portuguese people.

Decline of the Portuguese

The concept of the decline of the commercial influence of the Portuguese in India in the 18th century existed.

Weighty dynasties rose in Egypt, Persia, and North India, and the Marathas became the dominant neighbours, and the Portuguese lost their local advantages.

In 1739, the Marathas ousted the Portuguese, conquering Salsette and Bassein.

Political fears over the Portuguese and Jesuit activities' religious policies were experienced.

Due to the antagonism of Hindus towards Muslims and their pursuit to convert them to Christianity, their conversion efforts to Christianity resulted in resentment among Hindus.

Significance of the Portuguese

The Portuguese contribution to the birth of Europe-India relations can be discussed by introducing a direct maritime connection between Europe and India, which Vasco de Gama discovered in 1498. This discovery took away the Arab and Italian monopoly of land routes that made Europeans travel to the Indian Ocean to find spices and other goods that Indians offered. It represented an early example of European colonialism and superiority in the Indian Ocean and secured Portuguese dominion over strategic ports along the Indian coast, such as Goa. Their dominance of the seas and their monopoly of trade opened the doors to more European participation in the Indian trade and politics. They significantly changed the face of world trade and intercultural interactions.

• Emergence of naval power: The arrival of the Portuguese in India meant the advent of the navy-powered force, which became known as the European period.
• Own systems: Portuguese did not bother to follow preset rules, but aimed at ensuring that the Indian trade and the trading system of the Indian Ocean were under Portuguese domain.
• Military inventions: During the sixteenth century in Malabar, the Portuguese exhibited military inventions against their opponents through the use of body armour, matchlock men, and guns that were flown into their vessels.
• Sea Technology: The Portuguese were better at sea technology, and their ships were sturdily built, multi-decked ships to endure gales of the Atlantic, allowing them to carry more armaments.
• Organisational ability: The organisation's creation of royal arsenals, dockyards, and a regular system of pilots and mapping was a noteworthy contribution.
• Religious Policy: The Portuguese came to the East, full of the desire to foster Christianity and repress Muslims. The intolerance could be tolerated at first toward Hindus, but with the change of time and the arrival of the Inquisition in Goa, people became increasingly intolerant.
• Agricultural introductions: In the changing Indian agriculture and food, the Portuguese introduced many crops into India, such as chillies, potatoes, tomatoes, cashew nuts, pineapple, papaya, etc. Such crops were so entrenched in the food habits of Indians and their agricultural processes.

Foothold in the West and South

• The port of arrival: Captain Hawkins reached the court of Jahangir in search of opening a factory at Surat in 1609, but it never succeeded because of the Portuguese.
• Trading started: The English began to trade at Masulipatnam in 1611 and set up a factory in 1616.
• Battle against the Portuguese: In 1612, Captain Thomas won a sea battle of Surat against the Portuguese, and as such, Jahangir allowed an English factory in Surat in 1613.
• The Portuguese were at peace, and an Anglo-Dutch compromise permitted the English to trade freely.
• Gift of Bombay: Bombay was ceded to King Charles II in 1662 and to the East India Company in 1668, which in 1687 became its headquarters.
• Madras: The Sultan of Golconda also granted the English trading privileges. In 1639, the English had a fortified factory at Madras, which would become the headquarters of the English settlements in South India.

Foothold in Bengal

The Mughal Empire was a prosperous and vital province, and Bengal was one of the provinces to which English merchants flocked because of attractive trade and business opportunities.

• Trade license: A trading license was granted in 1651 by Shah Shuja, subahdar of Bengal, agreeing to an annual payment by the English to trade in Bengal.
• Fortified settlement required: Requiring a fortified settlement, William Hedges, the initial agent and company governor in Bengal, approached the Mughal governor Shaista Khan; however, this did not go well, and instead hostilities broke out.
• The settlement at Sutanuti: In 1686, the Mughals looted Hooghly, which the English avenged. Negotiations led to signing of a treaty between Job Charnock and the Mughals in 1690, which enabled the English to open an English factory at Sutanuti.
• Fort William: In 1698, the English were granted the right to purchase the zamindari of Sutanuti, Gobindapur, and Kalikata, and the fortified town went into existence bearing the name Fort William in 1700, the seat of the eastern presidency (Calcutta).

Arrival of the British in India

The British came to India in the early 1600s. The British East India Company came first for trade. The advent of Europeans in India started with trade, but later the British fought Indian rulers and made India a British colony.

• In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I of England gave a charter to form the British East India Company. The company came to India for trade—the British traded cotton, silk and saltpetre from India for British goods.
• The East India Company first came to Surat in 1608 and got permission from Mughal emperor Jahangir to trade. The British set up trading posts in Indian coastal cities. They traded Indian goods like spices, silk, indigo dye and saltpetre.
• The advent of Europeans in India helped the British East India Company. Trade with India made a lot of profit for the British company and its shareholders. However, Indian rulers did not allow the British to expand.
• The British used violence to expand their control. In 1757, the East India Company defeated the Nawab of Bengal and took control of collecting taxes in Bengal. The company became a ruler in Bengal.
• The British East India Company gradually expanded its control. The company defeated Indian rulers in battle and captured their lands. The company's army grew bigger and had modern weapons.
• In 1803, the British East India Company defeated the Maratha Empire in western India, capturing large parts of India. By 1857, almost all of India was under direct or indirect British control except for some small kingdoms.
• How the British expanded their control changed over time—initially, the British captured Indian land by fighting Indian rulers. Later, the British used indirect rule and made Indian rulers act as their local administrators.
• The advent of Europeans in India had both good and bad effects. The British brought modern infrastructure like railways, roads, canals and ports. New crops, an education system and a legal system were introduced. But the British exploited India's resources for their profit.
• The British rule in India was unfair. British officials got high salaries while Indians suffered poverty. British policies negatively impacted the traditional Indian economy. The British treated Indians unequally under their laws.
• The direct British rule of India ended in 1947 when India became independent after the independence movement. However, the impact of the 200 years of British colonial rule is still seen in India's political system, economy, society, and culture.

Reasons for English success against other Europeans

England's success has been discussed in India against various European powers, and some of the important reasons are:

• Form and content of trading companies: The English East India Company was unlike other companies. It was headed by a board of directors elected once a year, with shareholders that enjoyed significant power over the company's running.
• Dominance at sea: Britain's Royal Navy was the mightiest and best in Europe, with such achievements as the sinking of the Spanish Armada and the French at Trafalgar.
• Industrial Revolution: England was in charge of the Industrial Revolution, which led to inventions and technological progress in textiles, metallurgy, steam power, and agriculture.
• Army, expertise and discipline: British soldiers were disciplined and well-trained. British commanders proved to be tacticians and used new strategies, which, together with the developed technology, enabled the small contingents of British soldiers to overcome superior armies.
• Consistent Government: Britain had a stable government compared to the other European countries, which experienced political instability, and the monarchs were very efficient. France was mainly governed by the turbulent French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, which weakened the country and made it side with Britain.
• Smaller religious fervour: The British were not as religiously zealous as Spain, Portugal, and the Dutch in spreading Christianity. It spreads tolerance and increases the sense of acceptability of British rule to the locals in India.
• Debt market: Britain was the country that effectively used the debt markets in financing their wars, especially with the creation of the Bank of England.

Arrival of the French in India

The French came to India in the 17th century. Like other Europeans, the French came for trade at first. The advent of Europeans in India started with the French East India Company. The company traded with Indian rulers, but it could not expand much.

• In 1604, a French trading company called 'The Company of Merchants of France Trading to the East Indies' was formed. This became the French East India Company.
• The company got permission from the Mughal emperor Jahangir to trade in India in 1615. The French set up trading posts in Surat and Masulipatam. They traded Indian textiles, silk, saltpetre and spices for French wine, metals and luxury items.
• The French East India Company brought new crops to India, like potatoes, cauliflower and peas. French missionaries also came and converted some Indians to Christianity.
• However, the French company could not compete well with the British and Dutch East India Companies. The French lacked political and military support from the French government.
• The French formed alliances with Indian rulers to fight the British. In 1746, the French and the Nizam of Hyderabad fought British forces but lost the battle. The French could not expand much beyond trading posts.
• From 1750, the French tried to expand their power by fighting Indian rulers. In 1759, the French captured Yanam from the Dutch but lost it to the British in 1778.
• The French captured Mahé, Karaikal and Chandernagar from Indian rulers in the 1720s and 1730s. They ruled these places as French India until Indian independence in 1947.
• The French rule in India was mostly through alliances and intervention, unlike direct rule by the British. The French helped Indian rulers fight the British at times.
• The advent of Europeans in India connected India and France. New crops, culture, words and architecture came to India through the French. However, the French aimed for profit and political influence, not the welfare of Indians.

Arrival of the Dutch in India

The Dutch also came to India for trade during the advent of Europeans in India. The Dutch East India Company ruled parts of India for almost 200 years.

• In 1602, the Dutch formed the Dutch East India Company to trade with Asia, including India. The company got permission from the Mughal emperor Jahangir to trade in India in 1605.
• The Dutch East India Company established trading posts in Indian coastal cities. They traded Indian textiles, spices and saltpetre for Dutch metal wares, textiles and spices. The company brought new crops like potatoes and tulips to India.
• The Dutch focused on spices, especially in Indonesia. They captured many Portuguese trading posts in India and Indonesia from the early 1600s. They broke the Portuguese monopoly on eastern spices.
• The Dutch used violence to gain a monopoly on the spice trade from India. In 1653, the Dutch East India Company attacked and conquered the city of Cochin in Kerala from the Portuguese and local rulers.
• The Dutch captured many Indian ports, including Nagapattinam (1658), Pulicat (1660), Chinnapatnam (1662), Calicut(1663) and Cochin (1702) by defeating local Indian rulers and Portuguese forces.
• The Dutch ruled these captured areas as Dutch-India territory. They charged high taxes on local people. However, the Dutch focused more on capturing Indonesian islands for spices than ruling India.
• The British East India Company attacked the Dutch areas in India during the 18th century. In 1795, the British captured all the remaining Dutch possessions in India and Indonesia.
• Though the Dutch controlled parts of India for almost 200 years, their impact was limited. They did not transform Indian society like the British. But they stimulated European competition in India and Southeast Asia.

European Settlement In India

The advent of Europeans in India started with trade, but later led to some permanent European settlements in India. The Portuguese, French and British established settlements and colonies in India.

• The Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle in India. They established trading posts that later became permanent colonies. In 1510, they captured Goa from the ruling Sultanate and made it the capital of Portuguese India.
• Goa became a major centre of Portuguese settlement, culture and governance in India. The Portuguese ruled Goa and the surrounding areas for over 450 years. Many Portuguese settled in Goa and married local women.
• The Portuguese also established colonies at Daman, Diu, Mumbai, and Kerala. They intermarried with local people and settled permanently in these areas. But the permanent Portuguese population in India remained small.
• The French also established some permanent colonies in India, like Puducherry, Chandernagar, Mahe and Yanam. The French interacted little with local people and had separate residential areas. Still, some permanent French settlements happened in these colonies.
• The British established permanent military stations in India, which later evolved into civil settlements and towns. Cities like Delhi, Calcutta (Kolkata), Chennai(Madras), Mumbai(Bombay) and Pune became Anglo-Indian settlements.
• Initially, British soldiers, officials and traders settled down in India. Later, Indian mixed-race people like Anglo-Indians also emerged. By the early 1900s, many British civilians had lived in the major cities of British India.
• Still, the permanent European population in India remained tiny compared to the overall Indian population. Most Europeans came to India for a few years to work and then returned home.
• The British and other Europeans primarily lived separately in India. They formed legislative councils with minimum Indian representation. European women and children began settling in India only after the mid-19th century.
• The permanent European settlements in India ended after Indian independence in 1947. Most Europeans left India, and the Indian government took over their properties. Still, some Anglo-Indians remain in India, especially in the northeast.

Conclusion

Though the advent of Europeans in India was for trade and power, some permanent European settlements happened in the colonies of Portugal, France and Britain. Still, the European population remained small and largely separate from the Indians. After Indian independence, permanent European settlements in India came to an end. Though mixed-race populations like Anglo-Indians emerged, cultural interaction between Europeans and local people was limited during colonial rule.

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