Editing History of India (section)

=== East India Company rule in India ===
{{Main|East India Company|Company rule in India}}
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 1/2
| total_width       = 225
| caption_align     = center
| title             = India under East India Company rule
| image1            = India1765and1805b.jpg
| caption1          = India in 1765 and 1805 showing East India Company Territories in pink
| image2            = India1837to1857.jpg
| caption2          = India in 1837 and 1857 showing East India Company (pink) and other territories
}}

The English East India Company was founded in 1600. It gained a foothold in India with the establishment of a [[Factory (trading post)|factory]] in [[Masulipatnam]] on the Eastern coast of India in 1611 and a grant of rights by the Mughal emperor Jahangir to establish a factory in [[Surat]] in 1612. In 1640, after receiving similar permission from the [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagara ruler]] farther south, a second factory was established in [[Madras]] on the southeastern coast. The islet of ''[[Bom Bahia]]'' in present-day Mumbai (Bombay) was a Portuguese [[outpost (military)|outpost]] not far from Surat. It was presented to [[Charles II of England]] as [[dowry]] in his marriage to [[Catherine of Braganza]]. Charles in turn leased Bombay to the Company in 1668. Two decades later, the company established a [[trade post]] in the [[River Ganges]] delta. During this time other companies established by the [[Portuguese East India Company|Portuguese]], [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch]], [[French Indies Company|French]], and [[Danish East India Company|Danish]] were similarly expanding in the subcontinent.

The company's victory under [[Robert Clive]] in the 1757 [[Battle of Plassey]] and another victory in the 1764 [[Battle of Buxar]] (in Bihar), consolidated the company's power, and forced emperor [[Shah Alam II]] to appoint it the ''[[Diwan (title)|diwan]]'', or revenue collector, of Bengal, Bihar, and [[Odisha|Orissa]]. The company thus became the ''de facto'' ruler of large areas of the [[Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests|lower Gangetic plain]] by 1773. It also proceeded by degrees to expand its dominions around Bombay and Madras. The [[Anglo-Mysore Wars]] (1766–99) and the [[Anglo-Maratha Wars (disambiguation)|Anglo-Maratha Wars]] (1772–1818) left it in control of large areas of India south of the [[Sutlej River]]. With the defeat of the [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]], no native power represented a threat for the company any longer.<ref>{{cite book|year=2004|orig-year=First published 1994 as ''Histoire de l'Inde Moderne''|editor-first=Claude|editor-last=Markovits|title=A History of Modern India, 1480–1950|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzOmy2y0Zh4C&pg=PA271|edition=2nd|location=London|publisher=Anthem Press|pages=271–|isbn=978-1-84331-004-4}}</ref>

The expansion of the company's power chiefly took two forms. The first of these was the outright annexation of Indian states and subsequent direct governance of the underlying regions that collectively came to comprise British India. The annexed regions included the [[North-Western Provinces]] (comprising [[Rohilkhand]], [[Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh|Gorakhpur]], and the [[Doab]]) (1801), Delhi (1803), Assam ([[Ahom Kingdom]] 1828) and [[Sindh]] (1843). [[Punjab]], [[North-West Frontier Province]], and [[Kashmir]] were annexed after the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War|Anglo-Sikh Wars]] in 1849–56 (Period of tenure of Marquess of Dalhousie Governor General). However, Kashmir was immediately sold under the [[Treaty of Amritsar, 1846|Treaty of Amritsar]] (1850) to the [[Dogra Dynasty]] of [[Jammu]] and thereby became a princely state. In 1854, [[Berar Province|Berar]] was annexed along with the state of [[Oudh State|Oudh]] two years later.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

{{Gallery|align=center
|width=180 |File:Warren Hastings greyscale.jpg|[[Warren Hastings]], the first governor-general of [[Bengal Presidency|Fort William (Bengal)]] who oversaw the company's territories in India
|File:India 1835 2 Mohurs.jpg|Gold coin, minted 1835, with obverse showing the bust of [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]], king of United Kingdom from 26 June 1830 to 20 June 1837, and reverse marked "Two mohurs" in English (do [[ashrafi]] in [[Urdu]]) issued during [[Company rule in India]]
|File:Railway bridge bhor ghaut incline1855.jpg|Photograph (1855) showing the construction of the Bhor Ghaut incline bridge, Bombay; the incline was conceived by George Clark, the Chief Engineer in the East India Company's Government of Bombay
||}}

The second form of asserting power involved treaties in which Indian rulers acknowledged the company's [[hegemony]] in return for limited internal [[autonomy]]. Since the company operated under financial constraints, it had to set up ''political'' underpinnings for its rule.<ref name="brown-p67">{{Harvnb|Brown|1994|p=67}}</ref> The most important such support came from the ''[[subsidiary alliance]]s'' with Indian princes.<ref name="brown-p67" /> In the early 19th century, the territories of these princes accounted for two-thirds of India.<ref name="brown-p67" /> When an Indian ruler who was able to secure his territory wanted to enter such an alliance, the company welcomed it as an economical method of indirect rule that did not involve the economic costs of direct administration or the political costs of gaining the support of alien subjects.<ref name="brown-68">{{Harvnb|Brown|1994|p=68}}</ref>

In return, the company undertook the "defense of these subordinate allies and treated them with traditional respect and marks of honor."<ref name="brown-68" /> Subsidiary alliances created the [[Princely States]] of the Hindu [[maharaja]]s and the Muslim [[nawab]]s. Prominent among the princely states were [[Kingdom of Cochin|Cochin]] (1791), [[Jaipur State|Jaipur]] (1794), [[Travancore]] (1795), [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] (1798), [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] (1799), [[Cis-Sutlej states|Cis-Sutlej Hill States]] (1815), [[Central India Agency]] (1819), [[Cutch State|Cutch]] and [[Baroda State|Gujarat Gaikwad territories]] (1819), [[Rajputana]] (1818),<ref>{{Harvnb|Ludden|2002|p=133}}</ref> and [[Bahawalpur (princely state)|Bahawalpur]] (1833).
<!--The East India Company also concluded treaties with various Afghan rulers and with [[Ranjit Singh]] of the Punjab, to counterbalance Russia's support of [[Iran|Persian]] plans in western [[Afghanistan]]. In 1839 the company's actions the [[First Anglo-Afghan War|First Afghan War]] (1839–42).  However, as the British expanded their territory in India, so did Russia in Central Asia, with the taking of [[Bukhara]] and [[Samarkand]] in 1863 and 1868 respectively, thereby setting the stage for the [[Great Game]] of Central Asia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ludden|2002|p=135}}</ref>-->

==== Indian indenture system ====
{{Main|Indian indenture system}}
The Indian indenture system was an ongoing system of indenture, a form of debt bondage, by which 3.5&nbsp;million Indians were transported to colonies of European powers to provide labour for the (mainly sugar) plantations. It started from the end of slavery in 1833 and continued until 1920. This resulted in the development of a large [[Indian diaspora]] that spread from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean and the growth of large [[Indo-Caribbean]] and [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Indo-African]] populations.