History & Culture
Advent of the Europeans
GS Paper I
Advent of the Europeans — Quick Revision
One-page UPSC revision of the Europeans in India: Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danish and French settlements, key dates, governors and the Carnatic Wars.
SyllabusGS I · Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present
A last-week sheet for the European trading companies. UPSC tests sequences and settlements — learn both.
Arrival and Formation
| Power | Company formed | First foothold in India | Exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese | Royal enterprise | Calicut, 1498 | Goa, Daman and Diu liberated 1961 |
| Dutch | VOC, 1602 | Masulipatnam, 1605 | Defeated at Bedara, 1759; possessions later passed to the British |
| English | EIC charter, 31 Dec 1600 | Surat factory, 1613 (east coast: Masulipatnam, 1611) | 1947 |
| Danish | 1616 | Tranquebar, 1620 | Sold to the British, 1845 |
| French | 1664 (under Colbert) | Surat, 1668 | Pondicherry transferred de facto 1954 |
Settlements by Power
| Power | Settlements |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | Cochin, Goa, Daman, Diu, Bassein, Hooghly, Chittagong |
| Dutch | Masulipatnam, Pulicat, Surat, Chinsura, Cochin, Nagapattinam |
| English | Surat, Masulipatnam, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta |
| Danish | Tranquebar, Serampore |
| French | Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal, Yanam |
Portuguese Personalities
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Vasco da Gama | Reached Calicut, 1498 |
| Pedro Alvares Cabral | Second voyage, 1500 |
| Francisco de Almeida | First viceroy (1505); Blue Water Policy; Battle of Diu (1509) |
| Afonso de Albuquerque | Captured Goa from Bijapur (1510) |
| Nino da Cunha | Capital from Cochin to Goa (1530); Bassein and Diu from Gujarat |
English Milestones
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1600 | Charter by Elizabeth I |
| 1612 | Battle of Swally — Portuguese defeated |
| 1613 | Surat factory |
| 1615 | Sir Thomas Roe at Jahangir’s court |
| 1639 | Madras — Fort St George |
| 1661 / 1668 | Bombay to the Crown (dowry) / to the Company |
| 1690 / 1698 | Job Charnock at Sutanuti / zamindari of three villages |
| 1717 | Farrukhsiyar’s farman — duty-free trade in Bengal |
The Carnatic Wars
| War | Years | Highlight | Treaty |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 1746–48 | St Thome (1746): French beat Anwaruddin | Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748 |
| Second | 1749–54 | Ambur (1749); Clive takes Arcot (1751); Dupleix recalled | Pondicherry, 1754–55 |
| Third | 1758–63 | Wandiwash (1760): Eyre Coote beats Lally | Paris, 1763 |
High-yield facts
- Jesuit printing press in Goa, 1556.
- Shah Jahan expelled the Portuguese from Hooghly, 1632.
- Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeated the Dutch at Colachel, 1741.
- Dupleix used Indian succession disputes and lent troops to Indian rulers — a method the English later perfected.
- After 1763 the French kept their settlements only as unfortified trading posts.
Traps
- Arrival order (P-D-E-D-F) is not the order of company formation (English 1600, Dutch 1602, Danish 1616, French 1664).
- Almeida = first viceroy; Albuquerque = Goa.
- Bedara (1759) was English vs Dutch, not English vs French.
Related Topics
- European Trading Companies and the Carnatic Wars — main notes
- Advent of the Europeans — practice questions
- British Expansion and Administration
- All quick revision sheets
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