Short Notes - Arrival of Europeans in India
Category : UPSC
Arrival of Europeans in India
Portuguese
- On 17"' May 1498, Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator, came to Calicut.
- He found new trade route from Europe to Asia via Cape of Good Hope.
- He became the first European to re- establish trade relations with India.
- He was welcomed with honour by the Zamorin of Calicut.
- He returned back to Portugal in AD 1499.
- His second visit in 1502 established Portuguese Trading Centres at Calicut, Cannanore and Cochin.
- Cochin was the first capital of the Portuguese in India which was shifted to Goa later on.
Dutch
- Dutch arrived in India as a beginning of Portuguese decline in 1605.
- The Dutch East India Company of Netherlands was formed in 1592 to trade with East Indies.
- Cornelis Houtman was the first Dutch who came to India.
- The Dutch established trading centres at Nagapatnam in Tamil Nadu; Machlipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Chinsora in Bengal & at Mahe on the Malabar coast.
- Their headquarter in India was at Nagapatnam.
- They could not compete with Portuguese & English and so left India.
French
- In AD 1664 French came to India as a last European Community.
- The French East India Company was founded by Jean Baptiste Colbert.
- In 1667, the first French Factory was established at Surat.
- The second Factory was established at Masulipatnam in 1669.
- Franco Martin was the well-known French Viceroy in India.
- Joseph-Francois Duplex was the most powerful French Governor, appointed in 1742.
- The Anglo-French rivalry can be acknowledged by the three Carnatic wars fought between French & English during 1745 & 1763.
Danes
- In 1616 the Danes came to India.
- They established at Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu) in 1620 and Serampore [Bengal) in 1676.
- They made Serampore as their headquarters.
- In 1854 they were pressured to sell their establishment to the British.
