Editing Indian independence movement (section)

==Background==
{{Main|Colonial India|East India Company|Company rule in India|British Raj}}
The first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean was the Portuguese explorer [[Vasco da Gama]], who reached [[Calicut]] in 1498 in search of spice.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vasco da Gama reaches India|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vasco-da-gama-reaches-india|website=History.com|date=9 February 2010 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref> Just over a century later, the Dutch and English established trading outposts on the Indian subcontinent, with the first English trading post set up at [[Surat]] in 1613.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|p=9}}</ref>

Over the next two centuries, the British{{#tag:ref|The [[English colonial empire]], including the territories and trading post in Asia, came under [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] control following the [[Acts of Union 1707|union of England and Scotland in 1707]].|group=note}} defeated the Portuguese and Dutch but remained in conflict with the French. The decline of the [[Mughal Empire]] in the first half of the eighteenth century allowed the British to establish a foothold in Indian politics.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|pp=9–10}}</ref> During the [[Battle of Plassey]], the East India Company's Army defeated [[Siraj ud-Daulah]], the [[Nawab of Bengal]], and the company established itself as a major player in Indian affairs. After the [[Battle of Buxar]] of 1764, it gained administrative rights over [[Bengal]], [[Bihar]] and the Midnapur part of [[Odisha]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|pp=11–12}}</ref>

After the defeat of [[Tipu Sultan]], most of southern India came either under the company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control in a [[subsidiary alliance]]. The Company subsequently seized control of regions ruled by the [[Maratha Confederacy|Maratha Empire]], after defeating them in a series of wars. Much of Punjab was annexed in the year 1849, after the defeat of Sikh armies in the [[First Anglo-Sikh War|First]] (1845–46) and [[Second Anglo-Sikh War|Second]] (1848–49) Anglo-Sikh Wars.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sikh Wars {{!}} Indian history|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikh-Wars|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref><gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey.jpg|Robert Clive with [[Mir Jafar]] after the [[Battle of Plassey]]. Mir Jafar's betrayal towards the [[Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad|Nawab]] [[Siraj ud-Daulah|Siraj-ud-Daulah]] of [[Bengal Subah|Bengal]] in Plassey made the battle one of the main factors of [[Company rule in India|British supremacy]] in the sub-continent.
File:Tipu death.jpg|''[[The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun]]'' by [[Henry Singleton (painter)|Henry Singleton]], c. 1800. After the defeat of [[Tipu Sultan]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]], most of South India was now either under the company's direct rule, or under its [[princely state|indirect political control]].
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