UNIT 13 COLONIAL POWERS: PORTUGUESE, DUTCH AND FRENCH Structure Introduction ' Arrival of the Portuguese 13.2.1 The Portuguese Sea-Borne Empire (1 500-1640) 13.2.2 Instruments of the Portuguese Commercial "Empire" 13.2.3 Evaluation of the Portuguese Commercial "Empire" Phase of the Dutch Domination (1 600- 1680) 13.3.1 Nature and Pattern of the Dutch Trade 13.3.2 Administrative Functioning of the Dutch Factories 13.3.3 Impact of the Dutch "Empire" on the Indian Society and State The French in India 13.4.1 Compaignie des Indes Oriental 13.4.2 Transition from "Commercial Empire" to "Territorial Empire" 13.4.3 The Role of the French Partis in the Indian States Summary Glossary Exercises 13.1 INTRODUCTION In this Unit on the colonial powers, you will be able to understand how the European traders (official as well as private) influenced the Indian states and society in different ways. Apart from this, you will also learn about the different methods of control exercised by the early commercial empires, their role in intra- Asian and Indo-European trade, their administrative functioning and finally their transition from maritime powers to territorial powers. Disruptions in trade route and changing political scenario in the Middle East compelled the European traders to search for new trading routes to India. After many efforts the European traders first appeared on the Indian sea coast at the end of the fifteenth century. The coming of Vasco de Gama at Calicut in May, 1498 marked the beginning of a new era in Euro-Asian trade. Initially the Portuguese established their control over the mercantile activity between India and Europe since they had discovered the route to India via Cape of Good Hope. However, Portugal lacked a powerful merchant class and the Crown took the lead in providing finances and political support to the Portuguese overseas mercantile enterprises. By the end of sixteenth century, the Dutch and English corporate merchant companies entered the arena and started challenging the Portuguese monopoly (The English East India Company was formed in 1600 and the Dutch in 1602). The French East India Company (established in 1664) soon followed them. Although dominated by single large corporations of merchants in their home countries, the private traders also carried out some amount of Euro-Asian trade. These comnlercial empires were sustained by the naval supremacy of their nations and were based on attempts to monopolise trade. Their activities were confined to coastal port cities in India and did not impinge upon the sovereignty of the indigenous polities to any great extent. They utilised the existing network Colonisation goods for bullion. This turned the balance of foreign trade in India's favour and (Part - 1) became an instrument of economic growth. This was a reason for the tolerant view of Indian rulers towards them. There were areas of conflict over the control of trade and markets but generally use of armed tactics was avoided. The French were the first to attempt some sort of territorial empire in India on a large scale. The British East India Company later imitated their methods followed by the Dutch. There also emerged conflicts amongst these European powers for securing trade monopolies and territorial control. 13.2 ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE The expedition of Vasco de Gama that reached Calicut in May, 1498 after rounding the Cape of Good Hope was inspired by many motives. The desire of the Portuguese monarch, D. Manuel (1495-1521) to open a direct sea-route to India was primarily commercial, though sometimes it was disguised under the garb of the Christian religious ideology which stressed the proselytising mission of Christianity. The basic aim of the Portuguese was to enrich themselves and their state by establishing their monopoly over the spice trade with Europe - a lucrative business of the times. They used military force to achieve this aim. Forts were established at Cochin and Cannanore. The first Portuguese Viceroy Francisco d'Almeida who arrived in 1505 AD, was however, not very successful in furthering the commercial and territorial designs of the Portuguese in India. It was Alfonso de Albuquerque who (1509-15) gave shape to the Portuguese geo- political designs. He quickly occupied several port cities in India and islands in the Indian Ocean. Goa was taken in 15 10 followed by Malacca in 15 11. In 15 15, Hurmua, at the mouth of Persian Gulf, was also acquired. The overall territorial control afier these acquisitions was quite small, but they were of great strategic significance. The fort of Colombo was established in Sri Lanka in 1518. Goa became the capital of the Portuguese Commercial "empire" in India in 1530. Subsequently, more conquest followed in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese occupied Diu, Dalnan and Bassein to control the trade from Gujarat and also occupied the coast of Konkan and Malabar to control the trade from Malabar. By the end of the 16'h century, they had about fifty forts and a powerful naval fleet of 100 ships. In this process of commercial and territorial "empire" building, the local rulers sometilnes assisted the Portuguese. For instance, thc Raja of Cochin bccarne a puppct of the Portuguese in order to increase his own power in relation to his nominal overlord, the Zamorin of Calicut. The commercial and the naval ships of the Portuguese, were also. throughout the century, partly manned by crews and soldiers recruited from among the local people. 13.2.1 The Portuguese Sea-Borne Empire (1 500-1640) The empire created by the attempts of the Portuguese described in the earlier Section was not a territorial regime. It was a maritime network within which, territories, establishments, ships, persons and administrative arrangements in Asia and East Africa were placed subordinate to the Portuguese Crown. In Libson, Casa da India, a royal trading firm headed this Sea-Borne "empire". In addition to the Crown, groups of merchants, financiers and bankers of various countries of Europe were also associated with the Casa da India. They played an important rolc in the procuremenl and thc transportation of the return cargo from Asia. I11 Asia, thc enterprise was under the control of an administrative set-up known as Eslada cla India (state in India). It was headed by the Viceroy at Goa - the head of the civil and the military government of the whole empire from East Africa to Colonial Powers: Moluccas and Macao -- who was responsible to the Crown only. Informal POrtuguese~Dutch councils that were called into session by the desire of the Viceroy to obtain and French advice only on specific, usually military matters assisted the Viceroy. Initially, there was no fixed membership or procedure for the conduct of the affairs. Gradually, these councils became institutionaliscd. Its members, apart from the Viceroy who acted as the president, included the Archbishop of Goa, the chief Inquisitor. some important fidalgos or noble residents of Goa, the captain of the city of Goa, the chief judge of the high court and the chief financial officer. There was also a municipal council. elected by the Portuguese and the Eurasian population for the governance of Goa. The subordinate forts and settlements replicated the structure of the administrative set-up established in Goa. The chief purpose of the forts and their captains was to secure the commercial monopoly of the spice trade with Europe as well as a monopoly of the trade between the various specified ports within Asia in order to tax it and to control its direction in the Indian Ocean. The captains and the other Portuguese residents also engaged in private trade of their own. The Portuguese sea-borne empire sustained itself by controlling and taxing the sea trade of local merchants in India. lnfact, the revenues from custom duties in the whole empire were about 60-65% of the total revenues in the sixteenth century. We may add to this other items of revenues derived from the control of sea-trade such as booty from captured Asian ships. The main items sought by the Portuguese in Asia were spices, especially pepper. The Portuguese procured bulk of this commodity from the Malabar region and later from Kanara on the southwest coast of India. The trade in precious metals from Portugal to India, and spice trade in the reverse direction was a royal monopoly since 1506. Private trade in monopoly items was, however, allowed to naval officials and some specific individuals under royal license. The private traders indirectly participated in it by providing finance to the royal house. The state in India (Estado) procured pepper in India that was sold in Antwerp until the mid-1 6"' century and in Libson thereafter through contract sales. After 1564, the Crown was unable to maintain its monopoly of pepper trade and shared it with private trading interests. In 1575, the royal monopoly of pepper trade was given to Augsburg merchant Konrad Rott and the Milanese merchant Rovalesca at a rate of 32 cruzados per quintal. Subsequently, the Crown made arrangement with other mercantile houses while retaining some share in this profitable trade. The contract system continued until 1598, when a substantial challenge from the British and Dutch in the sea borne spice trade made it uneconomical for the pepper contractors. Even the formation of the Portuguese India Company in 1628 was not a successful experiment and the company was dissolved in 1633. The cargo sent from Portugal to Asia for the procurement of pepper and other goods included precious metals (west African gold and rials coined from American silver), non-precious metals such as copper, lead, tin, quicksilver and mercury and some amount of coral, alum.