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In 1651, the English established their first factory in Bengal on the banks of which river?

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Answer: Option C — Hugli

Detailed Solution

In 1651, the English East India Company established its first factory (trading post) in Bengal at Hugli, on the banks of the river Hugli (Hooghly), with the permission of Shah Shuja, the Mughal governor (subahdar) of Bengal and a son of Emperor Shah Jahan.

The English East India Company was founded in 1600 by a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I, which gave it the monopoly of English trade with the East. Its first factories in India were:

Masulipatnam (1611), on the east coast, in present-day Andhra Pradesh.

Surat (1613), on the west coast, after Emperor Jahangir granted a farman. Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of King James I, came to Jahangir's court in 1615 to secure further trading rights. Surat was the Company's main centre in western India until Bombay replaced it.

Madras (1639-40), where the Company built Fort St. George.

Hugli (1651), in Bengal.

Bombay, which was given to King Charles II as part of the dowry of the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza in 1661, and transferred to the Company in 1668.

Calcutta, founded in 1690 by Job Charnock, where Fort William was built. In 1698, the Company acquired the villages of Sutanuti, Kalikata and Govindapur.

In 1717, the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar granted the Company a farman allowing it to trade in Bengal without paying customs duties, in return for a small annual payment. This farman is often called the "Magna Carta" of the Company's trade.

The Hugli river is a distributary of the Ganga. Other Europeans also had settlements along it, such as the Portuguese at Hugli, the Dutch at Chinsurah, the French at Chandernagore and the Danes at Serampore.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Damodar is a river of Jharkhand and West Bengal, known as the "Sorrow of Bengal".
  • ✗Mahanadi is the main river of Odisha.
  • ✗Brahmaputra flows through Assam.

Quick tip

Remember: first English factories = Masulipatnam (1611), Surat (1613), Madras (1639), Hugli (1651); Calcutta founded by Job Charnock (1690); Farrukhsiyar's farman (1717).

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Arrival of Europeans & Expansion of British Rule — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Arrival of Europeans & Expansion of British Rule, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the arrival of the Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danes and French in India, the growth of the East India Company, and the battles, wars and treaties through which British power expanded, including the Battles of Plassey and Buxar, the Anglo-Mysore, Anglo-Maratha and Anglo-Sikh wars, and policies such as subsidiary alliance and the doctrine of lapse. Typical questions ask which battle was fought in which year and between whom, which treaty ended which war, and which Governor-General introduced a policy. For example, the Battle of Plassey (1757) was fought between Robert Clive and Siraj-ud-Daulah, and the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the Company the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Practise the arrival of Europeans and expansion of British rule questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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