34.9k views
2 votes
1. What was the East India Company and how did it settle in India?

2. How Calcutta became an important region of British trading settlement?
3. Why did the British fortify their trade settlement in Calcutta?


User EiTan LaVi
by
8.2k points

1 Answer

3 votes

Answer:

1) The East India business was a British joint-stock business established in 1600 to trade with India and East Asia. The major goal of the corporation was to get access to the lucrative spice trade, but it also dealt in textiles, tea, and other commodities. The firm gradually increased its presence in India by establishing commercial offices, acquiring territory through diplomacy or military conquest, and establishing a private army to secure its interests. The company ruled India from 1757 to 1858, when it was disbanded and replaced by the British Raj.

2) Calcutta (now Kolkata) became an important British commercial town because of its strategic location at the mouth of the Hooghly River, which allowed access to the interior of Bengal and the region's abundant resources. Calcutta expanded rapidly as a centre of trade and commerce when the East India Company opened a trading station there in 1690. Calcutta was also a major hub for the jute industry, which was vital to the British economy. Furthermore, the city was a hub of intellectual and cultural activity, with a vibrant literary and artistic scene.

3) To secure their commercial settlement in Calcutta from threats by local authorities and rival European powers, the British fortified it. The Nawab of Bengal assaulted and conquered Fort William, Calcutta's major British fort, in 1756, and imprisoned British troops and civilians in a cramped, overcrowded jail. This catastrophe, dubbed the "Black Hole of Calcutta," killed over 100 people and became a symbol of British fragility in India. In response, the British East India Company undertook a military assault to recapture and strengthen its position in Calcutta. Fort William, a new fort erected by the business, was planned to be more stronger and more defensive than the first fort. Calcutta's fortification was part of a wider campaign to solidify British rule over India and to create a permanent British presence in the region.

User Siva Sankaran
by
8.4k points