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Page 6 of 9
INDUISM
THE BUILDUP TO EMPIRE 1550 TO 1750
It is interesting to have a closer look at the 150 year period from
about 1600 to 1750 to assess the magnitude of England's achievement.
-
1588 English Naval tacticians under Francis Drake were already
formidable as they defeated the much larger Catholic Spanish Navy which
was sent with the Pope's approval to invade Protestant England ruled by
"that bastard woman" Queen Elizabeth the 1st . (Spanish Armada)
But the story really started some 100 years previously
- 1434-1500 European trade with the Far East, which was mainly spices
from Java, particularly pepper and with China for silk and porcelains,
had been made impossible or at least very expensive and precarious via
the traditional route through the Mediterranean to Alexandria(Egypt)
and the Red Sea because of the hostile Islamic Ottomans headquartered
in Istanbul Turkey. Actually the strength of the Ottoman Navy was due
to a deal they struck with Barbarossa or Red Beard who was a North
African Muslim sea pirate. Hence the Barbary Coast.
A Portuguese writer summarised the aims of the Christian Kings as the
solution to the Islamic blockade of the Mediterranean as:
To discover what lay beyond the Canaries; to trade with any Christian
who might dwell in the land beyond: to discover the extent of the
Islamic dominions, to find a Christian king who would help him fight
the infidel; to spread the Christian faith; to fulfil the predictions
of the horoscope; which bound him to engage in great and noble
conquests and attempt the discovery of things that were hidden from
other men.
The main seafaring/trading nations of Europe were, Italians from the
city states of Venice and Genoa, Spain, Portugal, Holland and to a
lesser extent England and France. The Royal families of Spain and
Portugal took the initiative and financed brave seafaring explorers to
find another route for this trade. Initially the Spanish went West and
discovered America and the Portuguese went East round the southern tip
of Africa and set up safe haven ports en-route to Java in (Portuguese)
Angola, (Portuguese) Mozambique, Mombassa, the Indian west coast(Goa)
and Malacca in Malaysia.
-
1500 The Spanish, following the lead of the Genoan Columbus, emigrated
in large numbers to South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The
Spanish became rich with the gold and silver they found belonging to
the local Aztec and Inca civilisations which they destroyed. At the
same time the Portuguese started sugar plantations in Brazil manned
with slaves bought in Africa.
- 1607 The English set up their first official colony in North America in
Jamestown Virginia. (Note; 7 years after the formation of the East
India Company in Calcutta) (Sir Walter Raleigh was a prisoner in the
Tower for treason at the time) In the next 50 years many North American
settlements were made by the English who dominated the east coast and
central Canada (Hudson Bay company 1668). At exactly the same time the
French, using the St Lawrence and Mississippi rivers, settled in
central North America from Quebec, the capital of New France 1608, to
New Orleans, 1699. Then the Spanish who dominated Mexico moved north
along the American west coast towards Los Angeles in 1780. The Russians
who occupied Alaska and the North American West Coast moved south
towards Los Angeles. The Dutch had a colony in New York then called New
Amsterdam. 1626-1664.
- 1750-1770 At this time the two huge land masses of North America and
the Indian sub-continent, were part occupied and ruled by the English
and French plus of course the local "native" populations which the
English called both Indians. In North America the Native Americans or
"Red Indians", were relatively small in number and still almost a stone
age civilisation. In India at this time the population was huge by
comparison (some 200 million) and were highly cultured and civilised
Hindus ruled by the Islamic Mughals. During these 20 years, the English
removed the French from both territories and the battles with France
returned to a solely European theatre. The tactics used by the English
to remove the much larger French forces from both India and America
simultaneously was by blockading the French Atlantic coastal ports thus
keeping the French supply ships in harbour and the French troops short
of reinforcements, armaments and any special foods. The key French
coastal battles took place in 1757 and 1761.
- 1757 At the same time the English under Baron Robert Clive won crucial
battles in India against the French, notably at Acrot and later against
the ruler of Bengal at Plassey (north of Calcutta) giving them total
control of the rich province of Bengal (now mainly Bangladesh).
The Black Hole of Calcutta. This well known but relatively unimportant
story took place in the English wars against the Ruler of Bengal when
the latter attacked a small fort in Calcutta and imprisoned 145 men and
one woman in a dungeon only 18x18 feet for one day. It was also said to
be the hottest day of the year and 25 died from heat exhaustion. Money
generated from taxing the relatively wealthy Bengalis enabled the
English to finance a huge standing army (mainly locals) and conquer the
rest of India.
Note
The English had another advantage over the French during these times, a
source of money to finance the army and navy. This was because both
Oliver Cromwell and Charles 2nd had realised that Jews were the best
bankers in Europe and agreed to them resettling in England. The Jewish
banking families financed virtually all England's war efforts whereas
the French who hated the Jews were generally strapped for cash.
1750 ENGLAND NOW DOMINATES AS THE WORLD'S SUPERPOWER.
The English rule in North America, India and Ireland and commence their
colonisation of Australia 1770
So for a short time thence tiny England ruled the two huge continents
of North America and India and enjoyed total freedom in exploiting
Anglo, Indian and American trade, to fuel the rapidly advancing
Industrial Revolution at home. Australia was initially used as a penal
colony as the English in North America no longer would have convicts
dumped on them. Stupidly the English got greedy and imposed bigger and
bigger taxes on the North American colonies to pay for the huge
standing armies they thought they needed in this country. One of the
better known taxes was on tea shipped from India in English ships to
the tea loving English in America. (Boston Tea Party). The American
colonists revolted and then with the help of the hated French, who
wanted their own back on the English, the Americans gained independence
in 1776-1783. However the English have had a very special friendly
relationship with the now USA ever since-to the consternation of the
French. The English blockade of French ports went on until 1805
culminating in the historic battle of Trafalgar when the English under
Nelson beat the combined French and Spanish fleets on the Atlantic side
of the straits of Gibraltar. The story ends with the defeat by the
English, led by the Duke of Wellington, of the French land armies led
by Emperor Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium in 1815.
So the English had defeated the French, Spanish and Danish fleets and
all the key colonial prizes were in English hands. England had also
secured a trouble free shipping route to East India via safe, English
owned ports in, South Africa (the Cape), Mauritius (taken from the
French) and Ceylon now Sri Lanka.
Returning to India circa 1600
1600-1700 By the end of this period all the main European trading
nations had set up eastern commercial operational headquarters in
India. All the bases were for trade with India and further east with
Indonesia (Java) and China. England, Portugal and Holland had 6 each
and France and Denmark had 2 each. They all had major settlements
around Calcutta in wealthy Bengal (now partly Bangladesh).
1700-1800 At the end of this period the English had ousted all the
others except for the friendly Portuguese on the West coast in Goa and
the friendly Dutch. In addition by military might and playing off the
Hindu Marathas against the Muslim Mughals the English ruled huge tracts
of the Indian subcontinent. Notably all the south and east coasts and
the whole of Bengal and the Ganges valley up to Delhi. The
administration was not the British government but the commercial
British East India Company who by monopolising all the trade of the
rich state of Bengal could afford to finance their own army of 100,000
Indian troops under British command. It is worth noting that at this
time the British East India Company had 50% of the worlds international
trade.
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