Question
How did the East India Company begin trade in Bengal?
Solution
The East India Company set up first English factory on the banks of the river Hugli in the year 1651.
(i)This was the base from which the company’s traders, known at that time as ‘factors’, operated. The factory had a warehouse where goods for export were stored and it had offices where Company officials set.
(ii)As trade expanded, the Company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. By 1696 the Company began to build a fort around the settlement.
(iii)Two years later it bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over three villages. One of these was Kalikata which later developed into a city, known as Calcutta.
(iv)The Company also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the company the right to trade duty free. The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges.
(v)For instance, Aurangzeb’s farman had granted only the Company the right to trade duty free. But Company officials who were carrying on private trade on the side, were expected to pay duty. But they refused to pay. This caused huge loss of revenue for Bengal.
(i)This was the base from which the company’s traders, known at that time as ‘factors’, operated. The factory had a warehouse where goods for export were stored and it had offices where Company officials set.
(ii)As trade expanded, the Company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. By 1696 the Company began to build a fort around the settlement.
(iii)Two years later it bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over three villages. One of these was Kalikata which later developed into a city, known as Calcutta.
(iv)The Company also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the company the right to trade duty free. The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges.
(v)For instance, Aurangzeb’s farman had granted only the Company the right to trade duty free. But Company officials who were carrying on private trade on the side, were expected to pay duty. But they refused to pay. This caused huge loss of revenue for Bengal.
