from trade to territory class 8

The last powerful Mughal ruler established control over a very large part of the territory that is now known as India. After his death in 1707, many Mughal governors and big zamindars began asserting their authority and establishing regional kingdoms. As powerful regional kingdoms emerged in various parts of India, Delhi could no longer function as an effective centre. Who was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers?

By the second half of the eighteenth century, a new power was emerging on the political horizon – the British.They originally came to India as a small trading company, and were reluctant to acquire territories. When did the East India Company acquire a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting it the sole right to trade with the East?

3. With the charter from Queen Elizabeth granting it the sole right to trader with the East, the East India Company could venture across the oceans, looking for new lands from which it could buy goods at a cheap price, and carry them back to Europe to sell at higher prices. How did mercantile trading companies in those days make profit?

4.Through the early eighteenth century the conflict between the Company and the Nawabs of Bengal intensified. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Siraj ud-Daulah as the Nawab of Bengal. After the death of which famous Mughal emperor did the Bengal Nawabs begin asserting their power and autonomy, as other regional powers were doing at that time?

5.Bengal Nawabs refused to grant the Company concessions, demanded large tributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it any right to mint coins, and stopped it from extending its fortifications. These conflicts of interests led to confrontations. Which famous battle did this finally culminate in?

6.The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major victory of the East India Company in India. Who became the Nawab of Bengal after Siraj ud-Daulah?

7. The Mughal emperor appointed the Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. The Diwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenue resources of Bengal. This solved a major problem wherein the Company had to buy most of the goods in India with gold and silver imported from Britain because

8. After the Battle of Buxar, the Company appointed Residents in Indian states. Through these Residents, the Company officials began interfering in the internal affairs of Indian states. They even attempted to decide who was to be the successor to the throne, and who was to be appointed in administrative posts. Sometimes the Company forced the states into a 'subsidiary alliance'. What does this term 'subsidiary alliance' mean?

9. Under “subsidiary alliance”, when Richard Wellesley was Governor General, the Nawab of _______ was forced to give over half of his territory to the Company in 1801, as he failed to pay for the “subsidiary forces”.

10. The British saw Haidar and Tipu as ambitious, arrogant, and dangerous. Four battles were fought with them and only in the last battle did the Company ultimately win by killing Tipu Sultan. Identify this battle: