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Advent of Europeans and British Expansion – UPSC GS1

This module of the GS Paper 1: History, Culture, Geography & Society course covers european trading companies, conquest of bengal, mysore, marathas and punjab, economic impact. It has 5 study lessons and a 45-question practice quiz. Free lessons can be read in full; premium lessons show a preview.

Lessons in this module

1. Advent of the Europeans: Portuguese, Dutch, English, French and the Carnatic Wars

Free 8 min

By the fifteenth century, Indian pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cotton textiles, indigo and saltpetre were in great demand in Europe. The overland route ran through West Asia and was controlled by Arab and later Ottoman middlemen,…

2. Conquest of Bengal: Plassey, Buxar and the Dual Government

Premium 7 min

Bengal (with Bihar and Orissa) was the richest province of the Mughal empire. It produced fine cotton and silk textiles, rice, sugar, saltpetre and opium, and Dhaka muslin was famous across the world. After Aurangzeb's…

3. British Expansion: Mysore, Marathas, Sikhs and the Policies of Annexation

Premium 7 min

After 1765 the Company had a secure revenue base in Bengal. Over the next ninety years it expanded through war, diplomacy and legal devices until, by 1856, almost the whole subcontinent was under direct British…

4. Economic Impact of British Rule: Land Revenue, Deindustrialisation and the Drain of Wealth

Premium 7 min

British rule changed India from an exporter of fine manufactured goods into a supplier of raw materials and a market for British factory products. UPSC Prelims asks about the land revenue settlements (who introduced which,…

5. Company Administration: Regulating Acts, Civil Services, Judiciary and Education (1773–1857)

Premium 7 min

Once the Company became a ruler, the British Parliament stepped in to control it. A series of Acts from 1773 to 1853 gradually turned a trading company into a government answerable to Parliament. At the…

 Module quiz: Advent of Europeans and British Expansion (45 questions)

Maps & infographics in this module

A portrait of Vasco da Gama (c. 1524), who reached Calicut in 1498
A portrait of Vasco da Gama (c. 1524), who reached Calicut in 1498. Credit: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
Boats landing at Madras beside Fort St George, in an early colonial picture
Boats landing at Madras beside Fort St George, in an early colonial picture. Credit: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
Map of India marking European settlements: Portuguese Goa and Diu, English Surat, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, French Pondicherry and Chandernagore, Dutch Pulicat and Masulipatnam, Danish Tranquebar, and Calicut
Most European bases were coastal; the Coromandel coast and Bengal saw the fiercest rivalry.
Timeline of Anglo-French rivalry in India from the French Company in 1664 to the Treaty of Paris in 1763
After 1763 the French kept their settlements only as unfortified trading posts.
Six cards on reasons for English success: private company, navy, Bengal revenue, three bases, leadership and home support
Plassey gave the English the money to defeat the French in the Carnatic.
Robert Clive meeting Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 (painting by Francis Hayman)
Robert Clive meeting Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 (painting by Francis Hayman). Credit: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.

Frequently asked questions

Lessons: Advent of the Europeans: Portuguese, Dutch, English, French and the Carnatic Wars; Conquest of Bengal: Plassey, Buxar and the Dual Government; British Expansion: Mysore, Marathas, Sikhs and the Policies of Annexation; Economic Impact of British Rule: Land Revenue, Deindustrialisation and the Drain of Wealth; Company Administration: Regulating Acts, Civil Services, Judiciary and Education (1773–1857).

Answer: 1498. 20 May 1498.

Answer: Almeida. First Portuguese viceroy.

Answer: Bijapur. Albuquerque, 1510.

Answer: Marthanda Varma. Colachel, 1741.

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