From Trade to Territory – Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering major people, events, policies and terms from the lecture on the rise of British power in India (c.1600–1857).

Aurangzeb

The last powerful Mughal emperor, died in 1707 after extending control over much of India.

Bahadur Shah Zafar

The symbolic Mughal emperor during the 1857 revolt; exiled after its suppression.

East India Company

English trading company (founded 1600) that evolved into a territorial colonial power in India.

Charter of 1600

Royal order from Queen Elizabeth I granting the East India Company exclusive English trading rights with the East.

Mercantile Company

A business enterprise that profits by buying goods cheap and selling them dear, often by blocking competition.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who discovered the sea route to India in 1498.

Goa

Portuguese base on India’s west coast, established before English arrival.

Factory (EIC context)

A fortified trading post with warehouses and offices run by Company ‘factors.’

Factor

Early East India Company trader-agent who managed trade at a factory.

Hugli Factory

First English factory in Bengal, set up on the river Hugli in 1651.

Fortification

Building walls and defences around trading settlements to protect trade and assert power.

Farman

A royal edict; Aurangzeb’s farman allowed the Company duty-free trade.

Nawab

Regional Mughal governor; rulers of Bengal, Awadh, etc., who clashed with the Company.

Murshid Quli Khan

Powerful Nawab of Bengal (early 18th c.) who resisted Company concessions.

Alivardi Khan

Successor to Murshid Quli Khan; strong Bengal Nawab before Sirajuddaulah.

Sirajuddaulah

Nawab of Bengal defeated by the Company at Plassey in 1757.

Battle of Plassey (1757)

First major Company victory in India, secured by Clive with Mir Jafar’s betrayal.

Robert Clive

Company commander who won Plassey, became rich, later Governor of Bengal.

Mir Jafar

Bengali commander turned puppet Nawab after Plassey, installed by the Company.

Mir Qasim

Successor who opposed the Company; defeated at the Battle of Buxar (1764).

Battle of Buxar (1764)

Company victory over combined forces of Mir Qasim, Awadh and the Mughal emperor, leading to Diwani rights.

Diwani

Right to collect land revenue; granted to the Company over Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1765.

Nabob (or "nabob")

Wealthy Company official who returned to Britain flaunting fortunes earned in India.

Resident

Company political agent stationed at an Indian court to control diplomacy and succession.

Subsidiary Alliance

EIC system forcing Indian rulers to accept Company protection, pay for troops and disband independent armies.

Haidar Ali

Powerful ruler of Mysore (1761-82); father of Tipu Sultan and Company adversary.

Tipu Sultan

‘Tiger of Mysore’; resisted the Company, modernised his army, killed at Shrirangapatnam (1799).

Mysore Wars

Four Anglo-Mysore conflicts (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92, 1799) ending in Mysore’s defeat.

Treaty of Shrirangapatnam

1792 pact after the third Mysore War; Tipu ceded territory and surrendered two sons as hostages.

Wodeyars

Former Mysore dynasty restored under British subsidiary alliance after Tipu’s death.

Maratha Confederacy

Alliance of Maratha states under a Peshwa, challenged and defeated by the Company in three wars.

Peshwa

Prime minister and military head of the Maratha Confederacy based in Pune.

Treaty of Salbai (1782)

Ended the First Anglo-Maratha War without a decisive victor.

Paramountcy

Policy under Lord Hastings claiming Company authority was supreme over Indian states.

Rani Channamma

Queen of Kitoor (Karnataka) who led an armed resistance against British annexation (1824).

Doctrine of Lapse

Lord Dalhousie’s policy: states without a male heir ‘lapsed’ to Company territory.

Lord Dalhousie

Governor-General (1848-56) who annexed many states via the Doctrine of Lapse and Awadh in 1856.

Warren Hastings

First Governor-General (1773-85); reorganised administration and justice, later impeached in Britain.

Presidency

Major British administrative unit; Bengal, Bombay and Madras were the three Presidencies.

Faujdari Adalat

Criminal court established by the Company in each district after 1772.

Diwani Adalat

Civil court where European collectors applied Hindu or Muslim law with pandit/maulvi advice.

Sadar Nizamat Adalat

Company’s highest court of criminal appeal set up at Calcutta.

Collector

Chief district officer responsible for revenue collection and maintaining law and order.

Sepoy

Indian soldier in the Company’s army; derived from the word sipahi.

Sawar

Cavalryman; horse-mounted soldier in Indian or Company service.

Musket

Heavy, muzzle-loaded firearm used by infantry in the 18th–19th centuries.

Matchlock

Early gun where powder was ignited by a burning match; replaced by muskets.

Dharmashastra

Classical Sanskrit legal texts; basis for compiling a digest of Hindu law for Company courts.

Impeachment (Hastings)

Seven-year trial in British Parliament (1788-95) charging Warren Hastings with Bengal misrule.