The East India Company and British expansion

Last time

Before we start: last time, in The decline of the Mughal Empire and its rivals, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.

Traders become rulers

The East India Company arrived as traders, buying spices, cotton and silk. A century and a half later it ruled most of the subcontinent. This lesson covers why it came, how it took control, and how to handle source questions about it.

Why the Company came

The East India Company was given a royal charter in 1600 to trade with the East. It came for profitable trade: spices, cotton cloth, silk, indigo and tea, which sold for high prices in Europe. It set up trading posts, called factories, at places such as Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta.

From trade to power

As the Mughals weakened, the Company protected its trade with its own soldiers, often Indian sepoys. It competed with the French, and took sides in local wars to win allies and trading rights. Control of land meant control of taxes, which made far more money than trade alone.

Plassey, 1757

At the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. Clive won mainly because Mir Jafar, the Nawab's commander, betrayed him in return for becoming Nawab. The Company now controlled Bengal, the richest province.

Buxar and the Diwani, 1764 to 1765

At the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the Company defeated the combined forces of the Nawab of Bengal, the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. In 1765 Shah Alam gave the Company the Diwani: the right to collect taxes in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The emperor became dependent on the Company's money and protection.

Mysore and Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore, fought the Company in a series of wars and sought French help. He was killed defending his capital, Seringapatam, in 1799. After this, no power in the south could challenge the Company.

Expansion methods

War and conquest, as in Bengal, Mysore, Sindh in 1843 and the Punjab in 1849. Subsidiary alliances: rulers paid for British troops and lost control of their foreign policy. The Doctrine of Lapse under Lord Dalhousie: a state whose ruler died without a natural heir was taken over. Awadh was annexed in 1856.

A timeline of expansion

The key dates of British expansion, in order. Notice how quickly control spread after Plassey.

Source questions

Question 1 gives sources: a written extract and a picture. You may be asked what a source tells you, or what message it intends. For 'what can we learn', make inferences: what does the source suggest, beyond its words? Support each with detail from the source. For 'what message', explain what the author or artist wanted the viewer to think, and why.

A source about Shah Alam II

A picture may show Shah Alam handing the Diwani to Clive. What message does it give about their relationship? It suggests the emperor depended on the Company: he had a title, but the Company held real power. Use the details in the picture, such as who is seated higher, and your knowledge of 1765, to support the answer.

Mistakes that lose marks

Mistake one: describing a source instead of inferring from it. Mistake two: mixing up Plassey, 1757, with Buxar, 1764. Mistake three: saying the Company came to conquer. It came to trade, and conquest followed. The fix: dates right, and the change from trade to power explained.

The full-marks tip

The full-marks tip: for a source, make an inference and support it with a detail from the source. Explain expansion as a change: trade, then protection, then taxes, then rule.

On one card

So, on one card: the East India Company. Keep it for revision.