The colonization of India was very slow and very subtle. Europe’s first contacts in India were made initially by the Portuguese. The Portuguese traveled there by sea and took over Indian trade and commerce. In 1492 a Papal Bull was declared, allowing the Portuguese to go to Kerala (May 18th, 1498).
They went in search of spices, and Christians. Later in another voyage in 1500 it became the Portuguese mission to convert Indians as well as manipulating the spice trade. 95 years later, in 1595 the Dutch began to invade India. Now two European influences were controlling India.
Both the Dutch and Portuguese had prominent influence in India but the most came from England around the year 1600. India at the time was a very powerful place due to its trading possibilities. It had very valuable spice products that many nations desired, especially the English. That is why in 1600 the British East India trading company was created, “After a Dutch company made tremendous profits trading with the spice islands in South-east Asia (known as the East-Indies) eighty English Merchants joined together to form the British East India Company in 1600.
Timid traders compared to the Portuguese and Dutch, the English merchants concentrated on amassing wealth. “ (Indian Independence, 7) The trading company was the first way the English asserted themselves in India. In 1665, they gained even more power through the gaining of Bombay (because King Charles married a Portuguese princess) In 1696 the Mughals prohibited more settlement gaining England a mass amount of money. England asserted itself in India through social power, and money. In 1773, as the company almost went bankrupt the English government took over the trading company. This basically gave the English unlimited power in India.
The Essay on Independance Of India British Company Indian
... English, with the British East India Company which was formed in 1600 with Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I, established the most important trading ... Finally, the Portuguese lost many of their Indian trading ports, partly because of poor management. French trading company established a ... few small areas of coastal land remained French or Portuguese colonies until the mid-1900's. Queen Victoria of ...
At this time the English had great means to colonize India. The British were in the middle of the Industrial Revolution. They were continuously coming up with and producing new technologies, which greatly helped improve their economy. Factories were opened, and railroads were built, demand for English products were huge they were very much in power, coupled with a strong navy this made them very powerful. But the English knew they could not directly take over Indians even with all this power. India was valuable for their Spice production. In order to produce spices, they needed the Indian people happy and alive.
The extent of what they could do was send English regiments there, and even many soldiers disagreed with the English motives this made colonization in India difficult, therefore it had to be very subtle and quiet, here is an account of English soldier in Burma, “All this was perplexing and upsetting. For at that time I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner chucked up my job and got out of it the better. The oretically-and secretly of course- I was all for the Burmese and all against the Burmese, the British. “ (George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant 1) Even those on the side of England opposed England.
