Kolkata, or Calcutta, was a colonial city. The British East India Company developed Calcutta as a village by establishing an artificial riverine port in the 18th century CE. Kolkata was the capital of the British India until 1911, when the capital was relocated to Delhi. Kolkata grew rapidly in the 19th century to become the second most important city of the British Empire after London and was declared the financial (commercial) capital of the British India. This was accompanied by the fall of a culture that fused Indian philosophies with European tradition.
Kolkata is also noted for its revolutionary history, ranging from the Indian to the leftist Naxalite and trade-union movements. Labelled the "Cultural Capital of India", "The City of Britain", "The City of Revolutionaries", and the "City of Joy", Kolkata has also been home to prominent statesmen, scientists, philosophers, and literary personalities. Problems related to rapid urbanization started to plague Kolkata from the 1930s, and the city remains an example of the urbanization challenges of developing nations.
Before the British From the 14th to 16th centuries, Kolkata was under the rule of the Bengal Sultanate. It was conquered by the Mughal Empire and incorporated into the Bengal Subah in 1576 following the Mughal invasion of Bengal.
Establishment of English trade in Bengal (1610–1900)
There is a long chain of events behind the arrival of the East India Company in Bengal, specifically Job Charnock in Sutanuti in 1690. These incidents are documented in numerous records of the East India Company and by several authors [Bruce 1810 (Vol I and II), Marshman Vol I, Unknown 1829; see references below]. These documents tell the story of how the English were severely beaten and wiped out from Bengal several times by the forces of the Mughal Emperor, and how each time they came back to Bengal to continue their trade.
The agents of the East India Company first visited the provinces of Bengal and Bihar for trade during the period of Ibrahim Khan (ca 1617–1624), the Subahdar (Governor) of Bengal at the time of Mughal Emperor Jahangir. The first factory was established in Surat in 1620 and later in Agra, and agents were further sent from these places to the eastern provinces to examine the possibility of opening factories there. However, the transportation costs and logistics were unfavorable, and the plan was abandoned. In December 1644, the daughter of the Emperor was severely burnt and a doctor named Gabriel Boughton, formerly the surgeon of the East Indiaman Hopewell, was sent from Surat for her treatment.
He was able to treat her burns successfully. In reward, the Emperor allowed the company to establish a factory at Pipili, Odisha, and for the first time, English ships arrived at an eastern port. During 1638, Raja Iqbal Jahan appointed his son Shah Shuja as the Subahdar of Bengal and Boughton visited the capital at Rajmahal where his services were again used to treat one of the ladies in the palace, and in return, the company was allowed to establish factories in Balasore, Odisha and Hooghly, Bengal in addition to Pipili, Odisha.
Shaista Khan was appointed as the governor of Bengal in around 1664 by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and was relieved upon his request in around 1682. While he was returning to Delhi, Englishmen sent with him a request to the Emperor to obtain a special firman to do business forever in Bengal; the Emperor was pleased to provide them the Firman, and the occasion was celebrated with a 300-gun salute at Hooghly. The investment in Bengal soared, the Bengal residency was separated from Madras, and Mr. Hedges was appointed as the chief officer to oversee trade in Bengal. His residence in Hooghly was secured with soldiers obtained from Madras. This is the first time English soldiers set foot on the soil of Bengal. However, the Firman was vague in many aspects, and soon disputes started to grow between the English and the governor.
During this time, a local disturbance occurred when the zamindar in Bihar attacked the governor of Bihar. Mr. Charnock, the chief of the factory in Patna, was imprisoned by the governor on the assumption that he was involved in the dispute. At the same time, their saltpetre trade was disrupted by another rival English company. To protect their trade in Bengal, the original East India Company requested to build a fort in the mouth of the Hooghly or on its banks. This request was immediately turned down by Shaista Khan, and a 3.5% tax was imposed in addition to the already existing tax of 3,000 rupees, notwithstanding the Firman obtained earlier. Another incident involving the Faujdar of Cossimbazar led to altercations between the Governor of Bengal and the company, causing their ships to depart Bengal without securing cargo.
Enraged with this situation and determined to establish their authority, the company requested King James II in 1685 to permit the use of force against the Emperor's army to settle the matter. Admiral Nicholson was sent with ships to attack the port at Chittagong, fortify it, make an alliance with the King of Arakan who was against the Mughals, establish a mint and collect revenue, thus making Chittagong a fort city for the Company in the eastern part. Then he was ordered to proceed to Dhaka. It was assumed that the governor would abandon the city, and then a peace treaty would be offered, which would guarantee free trade and other economic benefits for the company. He would cede the territories of Dhaka and Chittagong. Job Charnock was then at Madras and was directed to join the expedition with 400 soldiers from the Madras division.
Unfortunately, the plan went awry; some of the ships, due to the change in current and wind, arrived at Hooghly instead of Chittagong and anchored off the factory in Hooghly after being joined by their Madras troops. The presence of a large number of warships alarmed Shaista Khan, and he immediately offered a truce. However, the peace was broken again when some Company troops misbehaved with Shaista Khan's troops in Hooghly on 28 October 1686, for which the latter severely beat the former. At the same time, the admiral opened fire and burnt down 500 houses; property losses were about thirty lacs of rupees. However, a truce was again obtained between Mr. Charnock and the local Foujidar, and the English were allowed to put saltpetre on board their ships. However, Shaista Khan, upon hearing this, ordered the closing and confiscation of all their factories and properties in Bengal and sent a large force to drive out the English from Hooghly.
Upon hearing the news of Shaista Khan's plan, Mr. Charnock determined that it was no longer safe to remain in Hooghly and decided to move downstream to Sutanuti, a small hamlet on the banks of the river Hooghly on 20 December 1686. At this time, their ships in Bengal required extensive repairs, and the remainder of their fleet was considered in danger. In this situation, they considered themselves extremely fortunate if they could hold their current position instead of pursuing their desires in Chittagong. For this reason, they decided to ask forgiveness from the Emperor and requested reinstatement of the previously obtained Firman.
A peace treaty was again offered by the governor at the end of December 1686, but it was mainly to buy out time for an attack, and by February 1687, a large troop of Shaista Khan's army arrived at Hooghly to drive the Company out of Bengal. Charnock decided it was not safe to remain in Sutanuti and moved to the island village at Hijli. There he remained with his soldiers in an utterly inhospitable place full of mosquitoes, snakes, and tigers. The Governor's troops did not bother them there since they knew the company would not be able to survive long there. In fact, within three months, about half of Charnock's soldiers died, and the remaining half were ready to be hospitalized.
With his back to the wall, Charnock was desperately willing to negotiate with Shaista Khan to get out of this mess. Luck favored him because of an unexpected event. At the time when Nicholson was ordered to proceed to Chittagong, Sir John Child was ordered to withdraw the company's establishment from Bombay, commence hostilities on the western coast, blockade Mughal harbors, and attack their ships anywhere to be found. Emperor Aurangzeb wanted to reconcile with the company to ensure the uninterrupted voyage of pilgrims to Mecca and asked his governors to make terms with them.
As a result, a peace treaty was signed between Shaista Khan and Charnock on 16 August 1687. Shaista Khan allowed them to remain in Bengal; however, they were limited only to Uluberia, a small town on the bank of the river Hooghly south of Sutanuti, where they were allowed to make a port and do business from there. Still, their warships were strictly forbidden from entering the Hooghly. Charnock arrived at Uluberia, started making a dock there, however soon began to dislike the place and wanted to return to Sutanuti. At this time, the governor asked them to return and settle at Hooghly, ordered them not to build any structure at Sutanuti, and asked Charnock to pay a large sum of money for compensation. While not in a position to fight against the Governor's troops, two Company agents were sent to Dhaka to plead to the governor to allow them to return to Sutanuti and build a fort there.
At the same time, when the news of the failure of Nicholson reached England, it was decided that until a fort was built on the bank of the river, the English would never be able to do business with ease and would always be at the mercy of the forces of the governor. For this, Captain Heath was sent to Bengal with 160 soldiers either to fight and win against the forces of the governor or to bring back all the properties of the company to Madras and abandon the trade in Bengal. Captain Heath arrived in October 1688 in Bengal, took all of the company's personnel on board, and set sail to Balasore on 8 November 1688. He reached Balasore on 29 November, pounded and destroyed the town, including their own factory, and released some English prisoners from the Governor's prison.
They left Balasore on 13 December for Chittagong, reached there on 17 December, found the Governor's fortification too strong to destroy, and decided to wait until the governor answered his demands. However, instead of waiting for the Governor's answer, Captain Heath set sail to Arakan, arrived there on 31 January 1689, and offered a treaty to the king that the English would fight against the Mughals at Dhaka and the king would provide them with settlements in his dominion. When a fortnight passed without any answer from the king, Captain Heath, frustrated and dejected, returned to Madras on 4 March 1689. This was a total failure of English objectives in Bengal during the early period of 1689, which caused them to abandon Bengal as their trading location in the eastern region.
Emperor Aurangzeb, enraged with the situation that the Company fortified Madras, occupied territory around it, captured Mughal ships, went into alliance with his enemy Sambhaji, ordered his commanders everywhere in India to exterminate the company from the country, and seize their properties wherever they were found. Warehouses in Visakhapatnam were destroyed, and many Englishmen were captured and put to death. Shaista Khan pursued them in Dhaka, captured them, and imprisoned them.