Modern History : Advent Of Europeans In India

Q 4 / 55

UPSC CSE Prelims 2022

With reference to Indian history, consider the following statements :
  1. The Dutch established their factories/warehouses on the east coast on lands granted to them by Gajapati rulers.
  2. Alfonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate.
  3. The English East India Company established a factory at Madras on a plot of land leased from a representative of the Vijayanagara empire.
Which of the statements given above are correct ?

EXPLANATION

Correct Option

Statement 2 is correct. Alfonso de Albuquerque, the second Portuguese governor of India, captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur, Yusuf Adil Shah, in 1510. Goa subsequently became a significant center of Portuguese power in India.

Statement 3 is correct. The English East India Company established its factory at Madras (present-day Chennai) in 1639. The land for this factory was leased from a local Nayak, Damerla Venkatadri Nayaka, who was a feudal representative under the declining Vijayanagara Empire.

Incorrect Options

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Gajapati rulers, who governed parts of Odisha, flourished primarily until the mid-16th century. The Dutch East India Company established its first factory on the east coast at Masulipatnam in 1605, which was much after the decline of the Gajapati dynasty. Therefore, the Dutch did not obtain land grants from Gajapati rulers for their factories.

SOURCEA Brief History of Modern India by Spectrum, Chapter 1: The Advent of the Europeans in India