Trade to Territory / Part 2/ 8th Class /CBSE

Company officials become “nabobs”
After the Battle of Plassey, the Company officials forced the actual nawabs of Bengal to give land and vast sums of money as personal gifts. When Robert Clive left India, his Indian fortune was worth £401,102. In 1764, he was appointed as the Governor of Bengal and was asked to remove corruption in the Company administration. Many Company officials died early death in India due to disease and war. Some of the officials came from humble backgrounds, and their desire was to earn enough in India, return to Britain and lead a comfortable life. Those who managed to return with wealth were called “nabobs” – an anglicised version of the Indian word nawab.
Company Rule Expands
After analysing the process of annexation of Indian states by the East India Company from 1757 to 1857, certain key aspects emerge.
The Company rarely launched a direct military attack on an unknown territory. It alternately used a variety of political, economic and diplomatic methods to extend its influence before annexing an Indian kingdom. After the Battle of Buxar, the Company appointed Residents in Indian states. They were political or commercial agents, and their job was to serve and further the interests of the Company.
The subsidiary alliance meant Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the Company but had to pay for the “subsidiary forces” that the Company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away as a penalty. Richard Wellesley was GovernorGeneral (1798-1805), the Nawab of Awadh was forced to give over half of his territory to the Company in 1801, as he failed to pay for the “subsidiary forces”. Hyderabad was also forced to cede territories on similar grounds.
Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”
Mysore, under the leadership of powerful rulers like Haidar Ali (who ruled from 1761 to 1782) and his famous son Tipu Sultan (who ruled from 1782 to 1799), had grown in strength. It controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast, where the Company purchased pepper and cardamom. Tipu Sultan, in 1785, stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom. The Company fought four wars with Mysore (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799). Finally, in the last – the Battle of Seringapatam – the Company achieved victory.
War with the Marathas
The Company from the late eighteenth century was planning to destroy Maratha power. In the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Marathas were defeated, and their dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered. They were divided into many states under different chiefs (Sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were held together under a Peshwa (Principal Minister), who became its effective military and administrative head based in Pune.
Marathas were indulged in a series of wars. The first war ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second AngloMaratha War (1803-05) was fought on different fronts, resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna river, including Agra and Delhi. Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-19 crushed Maratha power. The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars. In the first war that ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second AngloMaratha War (1803-05) was fought on different fronts, resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna river including Agra and Delhi. Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-19 crushed Maratha power. The Peshwa was removed and sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension. The Company now had complete control over the territories south of the Vindhyas.
The claim to paramountcy
Paramountcy, a new policy, was initiated under Lord Hastings (Governor General from 1813 to 1823). The Company claimed that its power was greater than that of Indian states. In the late 1830s, the East India Company became worried about Russia. It imagined that Russia might expand across Asia and enter India from the North-West. The Company fought a prolonged war with Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842 and established indirect Company rule there. Punjab was annexed in 1849 after two prolonged wars.
The Doctrine of Lapse
Under Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor-General from 1848 to 1856, the final wave of annexations occurred. The Doctrine of Lapse is a policy devised by him which declared that if an Indian ruler died without a male heir, his kingdom would “lapse”, that is, become part of Company territory. One kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this doctrine: Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854).