Advent of Europeans — PPSC previous year questions

The Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757) was fought by Robert Clive of the East India Company against Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal, who was betrayed by his commander Mir Jafar. The victory laid the foundation of British rule in India. Later, Clive obtained the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa after the Battle of Buxar (1764) through the Treaty of Allahabad (1765).

The Battle of Wandiwash was fought on 22 January 1760, in the Third Carnatic War. It was between the English under Sir Eyre Coote and the French under Count de Lally. The English won decisively. Pondicherry fell in 1761. This ended French political ambitions in India. The Treaty of Paris (1763) restored Pondicherry to the French, but only as a trading post.

Francisco de Almeida was the first Portuguese Viceroy in India (1505-09). At the Battle of Diu in February 1509 he destroyed a combined fleet. It belonged to the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamluk Egyptians and the Zamorin of Calicut. This avenged his son's death at Chaul. It also gave Portugal naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean under his 'Blue Water Policy'. Albuquerque succeeded him and captured Goa in 1510. Lally and Bussy were French commanders of the Carnatic wars, not Portuguese.

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese navigator. He rounded the Cape of Good Hope and landed at Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar coast on 20 May 1498. This opened the direct sea route from Europe to India. The local ruler, the Zamorin, received him. He was Portuguese, not Italian. Calcutta did not exist until 1690.

In 1661 Charles II of England married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza. He received the island of Bombay as part of her dowry. In 1668 he leased it to the English East India Company for £10 a year. The Company moved its western headquarters there from Surat in 1687. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep were never Portuguese. The Maldives came under British protection only in 1887.

The Zamorin, the Hindu ruler of Calicut in Kerala, received Vasco da Gama when he landed in May 1498 after finding the sea route from Europe to India. Akbar and Shah Jahan were Mughal emperors, and Mir Qasim was a Nawab of Bengal in the 1760s.

Only (d) is in correct chronological order. The Battle of Swally was in 1612, when the English defeated the Portuguese off Surat. The Bibighar massacre at Kanpur was in 1857. Operation Polo (1948) was the police action that integrated Hyderabad. In (a) the Europeans arrived as Portuguese (1498), Dutch (1605), English (1608) and French (1668), not English before Dutch. In (b) the Chishti saints follow as Muinuddin Chishti (Sijzi), Baba Farid, then Nizamuddin Auliya. In (c) Taxila is far older than Nalanda, followed by Vikramshila and Odantapuri under the Palas.

Jahangir permitted the English East India Company to set up a factory at Surat in 1613, following Captain William Hawkins' visit; Sir Thomas Roe's embassy (1615–19) later secured wider trading rights. Farrukhsiyar's 1717 farman gave the Company duty-free trade in Bengal, which is the other date aspirants often confuse.

The Blue Water Policy (cartaze system) was adopted by the Portuguese. Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy in India (1505–09), started it. It aimed at command of the sea, not at conquest of land. Albuquerque later shifted to taking bases such as Goa.

A dastak was a free pass. Goods carrying it moved without paying transit duty. The East India Company won this right in Bengal under Farrukhsiyar's farman of 1717. Company servants sold and misused dastaks for private trade. This ruined Indian merchants and angered Mir Qasim, who then abolished all inland duties. That dispute led to the Battle of Buxar in 1764. So it concerned trade privileges, not military or judicial matters.