Our history(India), British invasion (002)

 The first English factory was set up on the banks of

the river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from which

the Company’s traders, known at that time as “factors”,

operated. The factory had a warehouse where goods

for export were stored, and it had offices where Company

officials sat. As trade expanded, the Company persuaded

merchants and traders to come and settle near the

factory. By 1696 it began building a fort around the

settlement. Two years later it bribed Mughal officials

into giving the Company zamindari rights over three

villages. One of these was Kalikata, which later grew

into the city of Calcutta or Kolkata as it is known today.

It also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to

issue a farman granting the Company the right to trade

duty free.

The Company tried continuously to press for more

concessions and manipulate existing privileges.

Aurangzeb’s farman, for instance, had granted only

the Company the right to trade duty free. But officials

of the Company, who were carrying on private trade on

the side, were expected to pay duty. This they refused

to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal.

How could the Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan,

not protest?