Question : Mughals and the British East India Company.
(1994)
Answer : Captain Hawkins arrived at Jahangir’s court in 1609. He was given the title of ‘Khan’ in addition to 500 Jat and Sawar. But he could not get the permission of erecting a factory at Surat. First English factory in India was built at Surat in 1613 when the Mughal governor in Gujarat issued a firman. Sir Thomas Roe, an ambassador of King James I of England, reached Jahangir’s court. He got the firman to trade and erect factories in different parts of the Empire. He stayed in Jahangir’s court from 1615-1618. During Sahajahan’s reign the Mughal army took hard steps against the factories of East India Company. In retaliation, the English expressed their anger by attacking Mughal fleet at Balasor.
The East India Company begged an excuse from the Mughal Emperor. Sahajan’s son and governor of Bengal, Shah Shuja gave various facilities to East Indian Company. Aurangzeb was always suspicious about the English. In 1690, a factory was established at Sutanati by Job Charnock and the Zamindari of three villages of Sutanati, Kalikota and Govindpur was acquired in 1698. These village latter grew in to the city of Calcutta. The fortified settlement of Sutanati was named ‘Fort William’. In 1715, John Surman, Governor of Calcutta and William Hamilton cured Farukh Siyar of a disease and gained firman in 1717, called the ‘Magnacarta’ of the Company. After the battle of Buxar, Mughal Emperor Shah Alam gave the Diwani of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa to East India Company. In 1803, the English captured Delhi and Shah Alam died in 1806 as a prisoner of British. The last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II was deported to Rangoon after the revolt of 1857.
