Why Europe came looking for India
For centuries India traded with Europe through middlemen. Then Europe decided to cut out the middlemen and come directly.
India was famous for spices, cotton, silk and indigo. Europeans wanted these, especially spices, which were used to preserve and flavour food. But the trade passed through Arab and Venetian hands, who took a heavy cut. Whoever found a direct sea route to India would control an enormous fortune.
Two things made the search possible. The Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, blocking the old land routes and forcing Europe to look for a sea route. And advances in shipbuilding and navigation made long ocean voyages practical for the first time.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Malabar coast, guided across the Arabian Sea from Africa by a local pilot. He was received by the local ruler, the Zamorin. This was the first time a European had sailed directly to India, and it began four and a half centuries of European presence.
Calicut is on the south-western coast, in modern Kerala. The Zamorin was the title of its Hindu ruler. Vasco da Gama's cargo of spices sold in Europe for sixty times the cost of his whole voyage.
The order of arrival
Five European powers came to trade. They arrived in a clear order, and left in almost the reverse.
First to arrive. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut. They dominated the sixteenth-century sea trade.
The Dutch East India Company was formed. They focused on the spice islands of the East Indies rather than India itself.
The English East India Company was chartered on 31 December 1600. It would eventually rule India.
The French East India Company was formed under royal backing. They became the English company's main rival.
The Danish East India Company arrived. It remained small and never became a serious power.
Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, Danish — the order of arrival by lasting presence. A common memory aid is that the Portuguese came first and left last, in 1961.
The Portuguese
The Portuguese were the first to come and the last to leave. Their real founder in India was Alfonso de Albuquerque, who became Governor in 1509 and captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510. Goa became the centre of Portuguese power in the East.
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| First arrival | Vasco da Gama at Calicut, 1498 |
| Real founder of power | Alfonso de Albuquerque, Governor from 1509 |
| Capital | Goa, captured in 1510 |
| Main bases | Goa, Daman, Diu, Salsette, Bassein, Hooghly |
| Policy | Control of the sea through the Cartaz system — a naval trading licence |
The Portuguese introduced several crops and things to India, including tobacco, potato, and the printing press. They set up the first printing press at Goa in 1556. They also gave India the Gothic style of church architecture.
The Portuguese arrived in 1498 and were the last European power to leave. Goa, Daman and Diu remained Portuguese even after India became independent in 1947. They were only liberated in 1961, when the Indian army took them by force after Portugal refused to hand them over.
The Dutch
The Dutch came for spices, and their real interest was not India but the spice islands of Indonesia — the East Indies. In India they set up factories but never sought to rule.
Their most important defeat in India came from the English at the Battle of Hooghly, but the decisive break was elsewhere: the Massacre of Amboyna in 1623, where the Dutch killed English traders in the East Indies. After it, the English largely withdrew from the spice islands and concentrated on India instead — a turning point that shaped everything after.
The Dutch established their first factory at Masulipatnam in 1605. Their other bases were at Pulicat, Surat, Chinsura and Nagapattinam. The English finally broke Dutch power in India at the Battle of Colachel in 1741, where the ruler of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, defeated the Dutch.
The French
The French were the last serious rivals the English faced. Their East India Company was formed in 1664 under the minister Colbert, with strong backing from the French crown.
Their base was Pondicherry, and their most capable leader was Joseph Francois Dupleix, who first showed that a small European force with modern discipline could defeat much larger Indian armies. This was a lesson the English would later use to conquer India.
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Company formed | 1664, under Colbert |
| Capital | Pondicherry |
| Other bases | Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal, Yanam |
| Greatest leader | Dupleix, Governor from 1742 |
| Downfall | The Carnatic Wars against the English |
The Carnatic Wars
The English and French fought three Carnatic Wars in south India between 1746 and 1763. They decided which European power would dominate India.
Part of a wider European war. The French under Dupleix captured Madras. It ended by treaty, with Madras returned to the English.
Fought over succession disputes in Hyderabad and the Carnatic. Dupleix was recalled to France, weakening the French badly.
Decided by the English victory at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended French ambitions in India for good.
The decisive battle of the Carnatic Wars. The English under Sir Eyre Coote defeated the French, ending French hopes of ruling India. After Wandiwash, Pondicherry was reduced to a mere trading post, and the English had no serious European rival left in India.
The French company depended on the French government for money, so when the government lost interest, the company collapsed. The English company was funded by private merchants and stood on its own. The English also held Bengal, the richest province, which gave them money the French could never match. Naval superiority did the rest.
Read in detail
The individual events and companies, each on its own page.
Which battle ended French power in India, and who led the English?
The Battle of Wandiwash in 1760, where Sir Eyre Coote defeated the French. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 confirmed the result.
The Danish bases were Tranquebar (in Tamil Nadu) and Serampore (in Bengal). Serampore became famous for its printing press and missionaries. The Danes sold both to the English in 1845.
Everything on one look
The order of arrival, the five companies, and the Carnatic Wars.
| Power | Arrived | Capital in India | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese | 1498 | Goa | First in, last out (1961) |
| English | 1600 | Calcutta | Eventually ruled India |
| Dutch | 1602 | Pulicat, then Nagapattinam | Focused on the spice islands |
| Danish | 1616 | Tranquebar, Serampore | Never a serious power |
| French | 1664 | Pondicherry | Last rival, beaten in the Carnatic Wars |
- 1453 — Ottomans took Constantinople, blocking the land route
- 1498 — Vasco da Gama reached Calicut
- 1510 — Portuguese captured Goa
- 1600 — English East India Company chartered
- 1664 — French East India Company formed
- 1760 — Battle of Wandiwash decided the contest
- 1961 — Portuguese finally left Goa
- Vasco da Gama — first European to reach India by sea
- Zamorin — the ruler of Calicut who received him
- Alfonso de Albuquerque — real founder of Portuguese power
- Dupleix — greatest French governor
- Sir Eyre Coote — English victor at Wandiwash
- Marthanda Varma — beat the Dutch at Colachel
- The Portuguese came first (1498) and left last (1961)
- Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, not Goa — Goa was captured later, in 1510
- The English Company was chartered in 1600; the Dutch company came in 1602
- The Dutch focused on the spice islands, not on ruling India
- Marthanda Varma of Travancore beat the Dutch at Colachel in 1741
- The Carnatic Wars were between the English and the French, not against Indian rulers
- Wandiwash (1760), not Plassey, was the battle that ended French power in India
- Dupleix first showed that European troops could beat larger Indian armies
- The French company depended on government money; the English company on private merchants
- The Danish were never a serious power and sold their settlements to the English
- The search for a direct sea route to India was driven by the spice trade
- The Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453 blocked the old land routes to the East
- Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, the first European to sail directly to India
- The ruler of Calicut who received Vasco da Gama held the title Zamorin
- The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive and the last to leave, in 1961
- Alfonso de Albuquerque was the real founder of Portuguese power in India
- The Portuguese captured Goa in 1510 from the Sultan of Bijapur
- The Portuguese set up India's first printing press at Goa in 1556
- The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602
- The Dutch focused on the spice islands of the East Indies rather than India
- Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeated the Dutch at Colachel in 1741
- The English East India Company was chartered on 31 December 1600
- The French East India Company was formed in 1664 under Colbert
- The French capital in India was Pondicherry
- Dupleix was the greatest French governor and rival of the English
- The Carnatic Wars were fought between the English and French from 1746 to 1763
- The Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 decided the contest in favour of the English
- Sir Eyre Coote led the English to victory at Wandiwash
- The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended French ambitions in India
- The English defeated the French partly because they controlled Bengal, the richest province
- The Danish East India Company was never a serious power and sold its bases to the English
- The Danish bases in India were Tranquebar and Serampore, sold to the English in 1845