1.The Dutch East India Company was established in India in 1602 AD.Where did the Dutch establish their first colony in India?
A. Cochin
B. Surat
C. Masulipatnam
D. Pulicat
Solution
Dutch established their first colony in India at Masulipatnam.
Key Points
- The Dutch East India Company was established in India in 1602 AD.
- The first Dutch citizen to come to India was Cornelis de Houtman, who came to India in 1596 AD.
- The Dutch East India Company (VOC) established their first colony in India at the town of Masulipatnam (also known as Machilipatnam) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in the southeastern part of India.
- The Dutch arrived in Masulipatnam in 1605 and established a trading post there.
- The Dutch set up their Factories at Masulipatam (1605), Pulicat (1610), Surat (1616), Bimilipatam (1641), Karaikal (1645), Chinsura (1653), Kasimbazar, Baranagore, Patna, Balasore, Nagapattinam (all in 1658) and Cochin (1663).
- The Dutch made Indonesia (Spice Island) their initial center.
- The Dutch gave more importance to Indian textiles than to spices in India.
- In 1759 AD, the Battle of Bedara took place between the British (under the leadership of Robert Clive) and the Dutch, which the British won, and the dominance of the Dutch ended in India.
- After that, they left India and went to Indonesia.
Hence we can conclude that Dutch established their first colony in India at Masulipatnam.
2. Who was the first Portuguese explorer to reach India by sea?
A. Christopher Columbus
B. Vasco da Gama
C. Ferdinand Magellan
D. Marco Polo
Solution
The correct answer is Vasco da Gama
Key Points
- Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, was the first European to reach India by sea, landing in Calicut (present-day Kozhikode, Kerala) in 1498.
- Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by its sea.
- Vasco da Gama was the first Portugese to come to India.
- The first Europeans to come to India and the last ones to leave were the Portuguese.
- His initial voyage to India was the first to link Europe and Asia by ocean routes, connecting the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
- He met the Zamorin ruler of Calicut and despite objections from the Arab raiders, obtained permission from the Zamorin to trade in Calicut.
- But Vasco da Gama was unable to pay the customs duties and price of his goods.
- When the duties were not paid, the Zamorin’s officials detained some of Vasco da Gama’s men.
- This angered him enough to kidnap some natives and fishermen by force.
- Further conflict with the Zamorin Kingdom and expeditions of Vasco da Gama established a base of operations on the Malabar coast.
3. Which European power was the first to establish a trading post in India?
A. The British
B. The Portuguese
C. The French
D. The Dutch
Solution
The correct answer is The Portuguese
Key Points
- The Portuguese were the first European power to establish a trading post in India. Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, was the first European to reach India by sea, landing in Calicut (present-day Kozhikode, Kerala) in 1498.
- This marked the beginning of the Portuguese era in India. They established their first fort in Cochin in 1503 and later, in 1510, they captured Goa, which became the capital of the Portuguese possessions in the East.
- The Dutch (The Netherlands), the British, and the French came later.
- The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602, the British East India Company was formed in 1600 but they established their first factory in Surat, India in 1613, and the French East India Company was established much later in 1664.
4. In ______, the East India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting it the sole right to trade with the East.
A. 1624
B. 1600
C. 1610
D.. 1615
Solution
The correct answer is 1600.
Key Points
- East India Company was granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, giving it a monopoly on English trade with the East Indies.
- The charter gave the company the power to establish factories (trading posts) in India and to export goods such as spices, silk, and tea back to England.
- The company grew in power and influence over time, eventually becoming the de facto ruler of much of India by the mid-18th century.
- The East India Company played a major role in British imperialism, shaping the economic, political, and cultural landscape of India and other parts of the world for centuries to come.
Additional Information
- Incorporated in England in 1600 and later becoming British, the East India Company (EIC) was dissolved in 1874.
- It was established to facilitate trade with East Asia and the East Indies in the Indian Ocean region.
- The company colonized parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong in addition to seizing control of a sizable portion of the Indian subcontinent.
5. The appointment of _________ as the Governor of the French East India Company in 1742 AD saw the beginning of the Anglo-French Conflict in India.
A. Robert Clive
B. Anwar-ud-din
C. Joseph Francois Dupleix
D. Nizam-ul-Mulk
Solution
The correct answer is Joseph Francois Dupleix.
Key Points
- The appointment of Joseph Francois Dupleix as the Governor of the French East India Company in 1742 AD saw the beginning of the Anglo-French Conflict in India.
- The First Carnatic War was an extension of the Anglo-French War in Europe which was caused by the Austrian War of Succession.
- The Battle of St. Thome (in Madras), which took place between the French and the soldiers of Anwar-ud-din, the Nawab of Carnatic, to whom the English made an aid request, is the turning point in the First Carnatic War.
- The First Carnatic War ended in 1748 when the Treaty of Aix-La Chapelle was signed bringing the Austrian War of Succession to a conclusion.
- Under the terms of this treaty, Madras was handed back to the English, and the French, in turn, got their territories in North America.
- The Anglo-French rivalry in India served as the foundation for the Second Carnatic War.
- Nizam-ul-Mulk, the semi-independent Nawab of Hyderabad and the Mughal administrator of the Deccan, passed away in 1748.
- His position was up for grabs, and the British and French were quickly drawn into the conflict between the contenders.
- Dupleix, the French governor sought to increase his power and French political influence in southern India by interfering in local dynastic disputes to defeat the English.
- The resulting Second Carnatic War lasted from 1749 until 1754 and saw the British strengthen their position in southern India.
Additional Information
- Robert Clive:
- The Bengal Presidency’s first British governor was Robert Clive.
- Clive has been credited for laying the foundation of the British East India Company rule in Bengal.
- Anwar-ud-din:
- He was the 1st Nawab of Arcot.
- He was an important figure during the first two Carnatic Wars.
- He was also Subedar of Thatta from 1721-1733.
- Nizam-ul-Mulk:
- He was the 1st Nizam of Hyderabad.
6. In which year British Parliament passed a resolution giving equal rights to all Englishmen to trade in the East?
A. 1700
B. 1694
C. 1813
D. 1833
Solution
The correct answer is 1694.
Key Points
- In 1694, the British parliament passed a resolution giving equal rights to all Englishmen to trade in the East.
- A new rival company, referred to as ‘the English Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies ‘ was formed (1698).
- The new company entitled “The Ltd. Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies” came into existence in 1708.
Additional Information
- Charter Act, 1813:
- The Charter Act of 1813 was surpassed via way of means of British Parliament renewing the East India Company’s constitution every other 20 years.
- This is likewise referred to as the East India Company Act, of 1813.
- This act is significant in that it described for the primary time the constitutional function of British Indian territories.
- Charter Act, 1833:
- The Charter Act, of 1833 came beneath neath the backdrop of wonderful modifications that had taken the region in Great Britain due to the Industrial Revolution.
- Laissez Faire was accepted as the principle of the government’s attitude toward industrial enterprise.
7. _ was the first governor of Portuguese, who introduced the policy of Blue water.
A. Vasco da gama
B. Francisco de Almeida
C. Nino da Cunha
D. Alfonso d’ Albuquerque
Solution
The correct answer is Francisco de Almeida.
Key Points
- Francisco de Almeida was the first governor of Portuguese, who introduced the policy of Bluewater.
- Francisco de Almeida arrived at Cochin on October 31, 1505, with only 8 ships remaining.
- He learned that the Portuguese traders at Quilon had been slaughtered while he was there.
- He dispatched his son Lourenço with six ships, which indiscriminately sank Calicut boats in Quilon’s harbour.
- Almeida settled down in Cochin.
- He improved the Portuguese defences at Cochin’s Fort Manuel.
- With his victory in the naval Battle of Diu in 1509, Almeida is credited with establishing Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean.
- Almeida was the first Portuguese to arrive in Bombay by sea in 1509.
- The Blue Water Policy (cartage system) was his policy.
- Almeida died in a conflict with indigenous peoples at the Cape of Good Hope in 1510, before returning to Portugal.
Additional Information Vasco da Gama
- Vasco Da Gama (c. 1469-1524) was a Portuguese navigator who circumnavigated the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa in 1497-9 and arrived in Calicut (now Kozhikode) on India’s southwest coast.
- The voyage to India was approved by King Manuel I of Portugal, who named Vasco Da Gama as the expedition’s leader and the ArmaDa’s captain.
- Four ships and 170 sailors were part of the operation.
- This was the first time that a European had arrived in India via sea.
- Thus, da Gama is credited with the discovery of the sea route to India.
- On May 20th, 1498, da Gama reached Kappad, near Kozhikode, which was then part of the Kingdom of the Zamorin (Samuthiri Raja) of Calicut.
Nino da Cunha
- Nuno da Cunha (c. 1487 – March 5, 1539) was a Portuguese admiral who was governor of Portuguese possessions in India from 1529 to 1538.
- He shifted the Portuguese capital from Cochin to Goa.
- Da Cunha also attempted to increase Portuguese influence in Bengal by settling many Portuguese nationals there with Hooghly as their headquarters.
- Nino da Cunha assumed office as the governor in November 1529 and almost one year later shifted the headquarters of the Portuguese government in India from Cochin to Goa.
Alfonso d’ Albuquerque
- Albuquerque, who succeeded Almeida as the Portuguese governor in India, was the real founder of Portuguese power in the East.
- His Policy was of dominating entire oriental commerce by setting up forts in strategic places in Asia and Africa supplemented by a strong navy.
- He secured for Portugal the strategic control of the Indian Ocean by establishing bases overlooking all the entrances to the sea.
- The Portuguese, under Albuquerque, bolstered their stranglehold by introducing a permit system for other ships and exercising control over the major ship-building centres in the region.
- He acquired Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510 with ease.
- They were also able to blockade and sack the Bijapuri ports of Danda-Rajouri and Dabhol, thus paralysing Bijapur’s sea trade on the mainland.
8. Before Goa, which was the capital of the Portuguese in India?
A. Cochin
B. Madras
C. Bombay
D. Patna
Solution
The correct answer is Cochin.
Key Points
- Before Goa, Cochin was the capital of the Portuguese in India.
- Cochin was the first Portuguese capital in India.
- After 20 years, the capital Cochin was transferred to Goa in 1530 CE.
- it was Nino sa Cunha (who became Governor of Portuguese interest in India in 1529) who shifted the headquarters of the Portuguese government in India from Cochin to Goa.
Important Points
- In 1498, Vasco-da-Gama arrived at Calicut where he was received by the Zamorins.
- In 1503, the First Portuguese fort was established at Cochin.
- In 1510, Goa was captured from the Bijapur Sultanate by Alfonso Albuquerque.
9. Which among the following apparently impressed Jahangir to issue a farman in 1613 A.D. to the English to establish a factory at Surat?
A. A secret offer of naval help to the Mughal emperor to oust the Portuguese
B. A heavy dose of bribe to Nur Jahan
C. The defeat of the Portuguese naval squadron by the English
D. Reconciliation between the English and Portuguese
Solution
The defeat of the Portuguese naval squadron by the English impressed Jahangir to issue a farman in 1613 A.D. to the English to establish a factory at Surat.
Important Points
- In November 1612, the newly formed East India company had sent four ships under Captain Thomas Best to trade with India.
- These were mercantile ships but were capable of defending themselves.
- They defeated the Portuguese naval squadron in the Battle of Swally, who were already there in Surat for at least 100 years.
- This act greatly impressed the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
- Consequently, Mughal emperor Jahangir issued a Farman in 1613 A.D. to the English to establish a factory at Surat.
Hence the correct answer is – The defeat of the Portuguese naval squadron by the English.
Additional Information
- Farman – A farman was a royal order issued by the Mughal authority ie king or emperor.
10. William Hawkins met Emperor Jahangir as a representative of the ______ East India Company.
A. English
B. Portuguese
C. Dutch
D. French
Solution
The correct answer is English.
Key Points
- The East India Company sent Captain William Hawkins to the court of Emperor Jahangir in 1608 to seek permission to open a factory at Surat.
- He was well versed with Turkish and Jahangir also knew some of it since it was the native tongue of Mughal Emperor Babur.
- He was called ‘English Khan’ by Jahangir.
- William Hawkins was the commander of Hector, the first ship of the British East India Company to anchor at Surat in 1608.
- Sir Thomas Roe, who was an English diplomat sent by James I to the court of Emperor Jahangir in 1615.
- Roe successfully secured a firman, or royal decree, that provided the English the right to trade and establish a factory in Surat.
- English set up business centers at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach.
Additional Information
- Jahangir (AD 1605-1627) was Akbar’s son and the fourth Mughal Emperor.
- he executed the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjun Dev.
- He is famous for his ‘golden chain of justice’.
- Captain Hawkins and Sir Thomas Roe visited his court.
