The beginning of European colonization in India

The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 blocked the passage of Europe to Asia. The European powers began to find alternative routes to reach Asia from Europe. The four major European powers were the Portuguese, Dutch, British and French which subsequently held colonial possessions in India. The European powers initially were only concerned in trade with India but in the 18^th century with the disintegration of the Mughal Empire the Portuguese, French and British fought among themselves for the control of India. In the end the British became the masters of the whole of India by defeating the Portuguese, Dutch and the French.

The Portuguese were the first to come to India for trade and established factories and colonial posts in India. The Portuguese under the command of Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut in May 1498. Having arrived there he obtained permission from the Zamorin of Calicut to trade with India. Subsequently the Portuguese established settlements at Quilon, Daman, Diu, Goa and Mumbai. Goa was their chief possession and it was ultimately taken over by India. From Portugal in 1961.The Portuguese promoted Catholicism and the Jesuit missionaries played an active role in the conversion of Indians to Christianity.

The Dutch East India Company was established on 20^th March 1602 to trade with Mughal India. By the end of the 16^th century and the beginning of the 17^th century  the Mughal empire under Akbar had ushered in a period of rapid economic growth and the Bengal subah was the most developed  province of Mughal India from which 50% of textiles and 80% of silk were imported. The Dutch controlled the Malabar Coast of India and established trading posts at Pallipuram, Cochin, Quilon, Cannanore and Surat.They conquered Ceylon (Srilanka) from the Portuguese. The Dutch did not play a major role and later they were expelled from India by the Mughals in the 17^th century.

It was finally the British and the French who competed for dominance over India. The East India Company (EIC) was started in 1600 in England by a charter given by Queen Elizabeth I to trade with India. In 1608 the Company sent its representative Captain William Hawkins to the Mughal emperor Jahangir to set up settlement at Surat .They were initially refused by Jahangir but later in 1609 Jahangir gave a Farman (royal order) to establish a factory at Surat. Factories were established at Surat and Masulipatnam. In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe visited Jahangir and received a farman to carry free trade and got exemption from inland toll. During the rule of Aurangzeb royal farman was issued which exempted the EIC to pay custom duties in Bengal. In 1700, the EIC built a fort called Fort Williams in Calcutta. In 1717, the Mughal emperor Farruksiyar gave a royal farman giving trade concessions to the British.

The French East India Company was set up in 1664 during the reign of Louis XIV.The first French settlement was established at Surat (1668) and second at Masulipatnam (1669).Other settlements were Chandranagar and Pondicherry. The French intensified their territorial conquests in India in the mid 18^th century.

After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 and the defeat of the Maratha empire at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 the British and the French changed their motives  from commercial to territorial expansion .They began to meddle in the internal politics of India. In the later 18^th century Great Britain and France struggled for dominance in India. In 1757 Siraj ud Daulah was the Nawab of Bengal and Mir Jafar  his commander in chief. The British wanted to seize control of Bengal .Hence they bribed Mir Jafar in the Battle of Plassey fought on 23^rd June 1757 in which Robert Clive and the British East India Company defeated Siraj ud Daulah and installed Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal. After Mir  Jafar became the new  Nawab of  Bengal the British made him a puppet ruler. Mir Qasim(son in law of Mir Jafar) got the support of the British  to become the new Nawab and under the pressure of the British Mir Jafar decided to resign in favour of Mir Qasim. An alliance of Mir Qasim, Shah Alam II and Shuja ud Daula fought the battle of Buxar in 1764 with the British under Robert Clive as they believed that the British were misusing the farmans issued to them by Mir Qasim..With this the province of Bengal was conquered by the British.

After this the British turned their attention towards the Marathas. After the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 the Maratha Empire was in decline which gave an opportunity to the British to interfere in the internal politics of the Marathas leading to the First and Second Anglo Maratha wars. In the Third Anglo Maratha war the British defeated the Marathas in 1818.

The Kingdom of Mysore existed in south India. The French allied themselves with the rulers of Mysore and later Hyder Ali and  his son Tipu Sultan fought four wars with the British which came to be known a s the Anglo Mysore wars. In the Fourth Anglo Mysore War Tipu Sultan was killed in 1799 at the siege of Seringapatam and the Kingdom of Mysore was annexed by the British.

Finally in the 19^th century the British defeated the Sikhs in the Second Anglo Sikh war. In the First Anglo Sikh war the Sikh Empire defeated the British and the treaty of Lahore was signed in 1846.However, the British continued to interfere in the internal matters of the Sikh empire which led to the outbreak of the Second Anglo Sikh war in 1848.The Sikh empire was defeated and subsequently Punjab was annexed by the British. 

The British started as traders in the Mughal Empire but they took advantage of the weakness and disunity of the Indian rulers in the 18^th century to fulfill their territorial ambitions in India and ruled the country for over 200 years.