The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

by Sanjeev Sanyal

  The Company Cities

  The English East India Company had initially focused on South East Asia rather than on India. Other than the Dutch, its major problem was that there were few takers for English goods in the region. Given that the English were famous for their woollen broadcloth, one is puzzled as to why the EIC had such difficulty selling their wares in the steamy Spice Islands; perhaps a badly run advertising campaign for woollens. As a result, the English found that they had to constantly cough up bullion in exchange for spices. This was the same problem that the Romans had faced fifteen hundred years earlier. The EIC discovered, however, that South East Asia had an insatiable demand for Indian cotton textiles and that one could make a profit by participating in intra-Asian trade. Soon they also found a market for Indian textiles back in Europe. Indian cotton would become so popular that wool producers would force the imposition of tariff and non-tariff barriers on their import. Thus, more than black pepper, textiles were the reason that the EIC decided to build permanent establishments on the Indian mainland.

  The English soon set up warehouses in Machilipatnam on the Andhra coast, Hugli in Bengal and Surat in Gujarat—all modest establishments. Sir Thomas Roe led an embassy to the court of Mughal emperor Jahangir. However, as business grew, the EIC decided that it was necessary to build fortified settlements that could be defended against both Indian rulers as well as European rivals. The first of these was Madras (now Chennai). As already mentioned, a small strip of coastline was acquired from the local ruler in 1639 by the EIC agent Francis Day. It was an odd choice as it was neither easily defensible nor did it have a sheltered harbour. Ships had to be anchored far from the shore and boats had to ferry people and goods through heavy surf. It was not uncommon for boats to overturn and cause the loss of life and property. Contemporary gossip had it that Day chose the site as it was close to the Portuguese settlement at San Thome where he kept a mistress. Thus, we must thank this unnamed lady for the location of one of India’s largest cities.5

  The English built a fortified warehouse on the site and grandly christened it Fort St George. However, it was initially a modest affair and the fortifications that one sees today were built in the eighteenth century. Visitors should definitely make a trip to the museum which contains a reasonably good collection of old maps, photos and cannons; it also explains how the fort evolved over time. The rest of the site is today a random mix of colonial-era buildings and government office blocks. Some of the old buildings are re-used in curious ways—for instance, the old armoury is now the canteen and one can sip coffee in a long, dark windowless hall with thick walls designed to withstand heavy bombardment. If you wander to the back of the fort, you will find that significant stretches of eighteenth-century ramparts have survived despite the neglect. I found a group of construction workers damaging a part of the old wall as they built a new toilet facility—symbolic at many levels.

  The next major settlement was Bombay which was acquired from the Portuguese as part of the dowry when King Charles II married Catherine of Braganza. Bombay was then a group of small islands and the king leased them to the EIC in 1668 for ten pounds per annum. Unlike Madras, it already had a small but functioning settlement and also a good harbour. As a naval power, the English would have found its island geography easier to defend. Given the unpredictable demands of the Mughal governor in Surat and raids by Maratha rebels led by Shivaji, the EIC’s agents soon preferred to operate out of Bombay. Thus, a more substantial fort was built on the main island—in the area still known as the Fort. However, a series of smaller fortifications were also maintained at various strategic points. One surviving example is Worli Fort that was built to defend the northern approach. To get there today one has to walk through the narrow lanes of a former fishing village but the fort itself has been recently restored. From the top one gets a panoramic view of Mahim Bay and of the recently built Bandra-Worli Sea-Link. One can immediately see why this would have been a good location for a cannon battery. I stood on the ramparts at sunset and imagined myself an English gunner keeping a suspicious eye on the Portuguese in Bandra.

  The third major EIC settlement was built in Bengal. Yet again, the decision was taken because the English found their position in the old river port of Hugli untenable due to conflicts with the Mughal governor. When peace was finally declared after an abject apology from the English, they were allowed to return and set up a new establishment. In 1690, the EIC’s agent Job Charnok returned to a site that he had identified on the westernmost channel of the Ganga and bought the rights to three villages from the local landlords, the Mazumdars, for Rs 1300.6 This is how Calcutta (now Kolkata) was founded. Note that it was not a completely rural area and merchant families like the Setts and Basaks already had significant businesses here.

  The English soon build Fort William—this is not the star-shaped eighteenth-century fort that is used today as the Indian Army’s eastern headquarters but its predecessor that was built on the site now occupied by the General Post Office. Nonetheless, the proximity of the Mughals and later the Marathas made the EIC directors in London nervous. The humid, swampy terrain, moreover, took a heavy toll on the Europeans and even Job Charnok died within three years of founding the outpost. It is worth mentioning that each of the above EIC settlements soon attracted a sizeable population of Indian merchants, clerks, labourers, sailors, artisans, mercenaries and other service providers. Thus, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta each developed a thriving ‘black town’ where the Indians lived.

  Of course, the English were not the only Europeans building trading posts during this period. The French East India Company, a relative latecomer, would build a number of outposts including a major settlement in Pondicherry (now Puducherry). This was established right next to the Roman-era port of Arikamedu although it is doubtful that eighteenth-century French colonizers knew or cared about this ancient link to Europe. Pondicherry would remain a French possession till the 1950s and still retains a strong flavour of French influence.

  Nevertheless, my favourite example of a European settlement from this era is the Danish fort in Tranquebar. Yes, even the Danes were in the game. Tranquebar (or Tharangambadi) is south of Pondicherry and very close to the old Chola port of Nagapattinam. It was here that Danish admiral Ove Gjedde built Fort Dansborg in 1620, well before the English and French forts. Despite this early start, the Danish East India Company was never able to make a success of its operations in the Indian Ocean and Tranquebar sank into obscurity. Therefore, unlike Madras or Bombay which grew into large cities, Tranquebar retains the atmosphere of a remote outpost. Walking along the shore, one can still imagine a homesick Dane scanning the horizon for ships that would take him back.

  Skull and Bones

  The proliferation of these settlements may give the impression that the various East India Companies were well-oiled machines and always making large profits. The reality was that they made big profits in some years and large losses in others. Wars, shipwrecks and fluctuations in commodity prices poked holes in their balancesheets. The English East India Company, for instance, nearly went bankrupt on some occasions. One of its perennial problems was that its employees were often more interested in their private trade than in pursuing the company’s larger interest. The EIC officially allowed some private trade in order to compensate for the low salaries it paid, but its agents often misused the company’s infrastructure and networks to further private deals. Thus, the company bore the costs and individuals pocketed huge profits. This is how Elihu Yale, the Governor of Madras, amassed a large personal fortune before being removed from his post on suspicions of corruption. Part of this ill-gotten wealth was used to fund the university that bears his name. Thus, one of North America’s leading universities is built on money garnered through dodgy deals in the Indian Ocean.

  Towards the end of the seventeenth century, a new problem arrived in the form of European pirates operating in the Indian Ocean. Their origins were in the culture of privateering in the Atlantic where dif
ferent European monarchs granted commissions to private parties to carry out acts of piracy against rival states. The English, for instance, would use privateers to great effect against the Spanish in the Caribbean. However, once this culture of piracy had been established, it was not long before well-armed European pirates began to expand their operations into the Indian Ocean, often out of bases in Madagascar. Perhaps the most successful of these was Captain John Avery (also known as Henry Every) who would become a legend and an inspiration for the likes of Captain Kidd and Blackbeard.7

  Born in Plymouth, England, Avery had served as a junior officer in the Royal Navy. In 1693, he signed up for a privateering expedition aimed at French shipping in the Caribbean and was assigned to the forty-six-gun flagship. The owners of the ship, however, did not pay the crew on time and Avery led a mutiny that took over the ship and renamed it the Fancy. Using the ship’s firepower, they now looted and pillaged their way down the Atlantic before heading for the secluded harbours of Madagascar. The original mutineers had been British but along the way they had picked up Danish and French sailors who had volunteered to join the pirates. They now set their sights on the shipping that passed between India and the Yemeni port of Mocha (it was famous for its coffee exports).

  The Fancy headed for Bab-el-Mandeb but when it arrived there it found small sloops, also flying English colours, waiting for the Mocha fleet. They were privateers from Rhode Island and Delaware with licences to raid enemy shipping in the Atlantic but had decided to try piracy in the Indian Ocean. Seeing Fancy’s firepower, they agreed to work for Avery and they hunted like a pack of wolves over the next few months. One of the ships they captured was the Fath Mahmamadi, bigger than the Fancy but armed with only six guns. The ship belonged to the wealthy Surat merchant Abdul Gafoor and yielded 50-60,000 pounds worth in gold and silver, enough to purchase the Fancy many times over!

  Just two days later, the pirates came across the enormous Ganj-i-Sawai, owned by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb himself. The ship was heavily armed and confidently prepared to put up a fight. However, as the battle began, one of the Mughal cannons exploded and killed several of the ship’s gunners. Just then, the Fancy fired a full broadside that knocked over the main mast of the Ganj-i-Sawai and turned the main deck into a disarray of rigging and sail. Amidst the confusion, the pirates boarded the crippled ship and took it over. The Mughal captain would later be accused of cowardice.

  According to stories that would later circulate in the taverns in England, the ship was carrying the stunningly beautiful granddaughter of the Mughal emperor. Avery immediately proposed and, on receiving her consent, married her on board the captured ship. Her gaggle of beautiful handmaidens were similarly married off to various members of the pirate crew.8 This is the origin of several Hollywood scripts. The reality was that Avery presided over an orgy of violence and several women preferred to kill themselves by jumping into the sea. The treasure they found on the Ganj-i-Sawai is said to have been worth 150,000 pounds in gold, silver, ivory and jewels. The pirate ships next headed for the island of Reunion where they shared out the loot before heading their separate ways. Avery and his crew would head for Nassau in the Bahamas where they too split up. Some of the pirates would be later apprehended but the captain himself simply vanished. Thus, Avery would become a legend. For the next couple of decades, rumours would circulate among the world’s sailors that Avery made his way back to Madagascar where he lived with the Mughal princess in a heavily fortified pirate hideout. This legend would inspire a new generation of pirates.

  Perhaps no one suffered more from all this piracy than Abdul Gafoor, the wealthiest merchant of Surat and owner of the largest trading fleet in the Indian Ocean. He repeatedly complained to the Mughal authorities who, in turn, accused the European companies of aiding the pirates. The Ganj-i-Sawai incident was the last straw and the Mughal governor of Surat demanded that the Dutch and English East India Companies provide ships to patrol the Mocha–Surat passage. The Europeans were also forced to pay compensation to Indian merchants who lost their ships to European pirates.9 Sustained pressure did eventually have some impact on piracy and several pirates, including Captain Kidd, were executed in the early eighteenth century.

  The Merchant’s Daughter

  One of the important power shifts of the seventeenth century was the decline of the Portuguese. This was partly due to the entry of other Europeans in the Indian Ocean and partly due to the fact that local rulers adopted cannons and learned to deal with European military tactics. The Portuguese lost Hormuz to the Persians in 1622 and shifted their base to Muscat in Oman that was defended by two mud forts—Mirani and Jalali—both built on craggy rock outcrops overlooking the harbour. The forts still exist and can be seen standing on either side of the Sultan’s Palace. The palace is a relatively recent construction and old photos show that till the middle of the twentieth century, the old city spilled right up to the water’s edge between the two forts.

  Despite the shift to Muscat, the Portuguese found that their position was not secure. Led by Imam Nasir ibn Murshid, the Omanis had regrouped in the interiors and were steadily reclaiming the coastline. The Portuguese were left only with Muscat when Murshid died in 1649. He was succeeded by his cousin, the equally aggressive Sultan ibn Saif who wanted to capture this last outpost. Unfortunately, this proved difficult as long as the Portuguese controlled the harbour and could resupply themselves from Goa. This problem was solved by a very unusual turn of events.

  The Portuguese depended on an Indian merchant called Naruttam to supply their provisions. He had a beautiful daughter that the Portuguese commander Pereira coveted. Naruttam and his daughter were not keen on the match but Pereira kept up the pressure. At last, under threat, the merchant agreed and requested some time to prepare for a grand wedding. Meanwhile, he convinced the authorities that Mirani fort needed to be cleared out so that he could do some repairs. Using this as the pretext, Naruttam removed all the provisions from the fort and then informed Sultan ibn Saif that the garrison was unprepared for a siege. The Omanis attacked immediately and took the fort and the town in 1650.10 Thus, an Indian father’s determination to protect his beloved daughter led to the demise of the Portuguese in Oman.

  In India, the Portuguese were similarly squeezed out by the Mughals and later by the Marathas. Pushed out of their base in Hugli, they were reduced to piracy in Bengal and withdrew to Chittagong where they formed an alliance with the Arakanese king Thiri who believed that he was Buddha and destined to unite the world under him. Thus, we have yet another of those impossible combinations of history—a Burmese Buddhist imperialist and Portuguese Catholic pirates. Together they carried out murderous raids into the riverine delta of Bengal that would remain imprinted in local memory for generations. The Bengali expression ‘harmad’ meaning ‘notorious freebooter’ is said to be derived from the word ‘armada’.11

  As they lost control over the spice trade, the Portuguese were reduced to trading in African slaves although they were not above kidnapping Indian children and selling them in faraway markets. A particularly intriguing case is that of an eleven-year-old girl, Meera, who was kidnapped from India’s west coast and then sold to the Spanish in Manila. She was then taken to Mexico where she is remembered as Catarina de San Juan. She came to be considered a popular saint although her veneration was explicitly prohibited by the Inquisition. Her life is an amazing tale of how a young girl adapted herself to survive all alone in a distant land and in very difficult circumstances.

  The Portuguese had also established themselves in Sri Lanka and had built a strong base in Colombo. They even managed to baptize Dharmapala, the ruler of the nearby kingdom of Kotte (effectively a suburb of Colombo and now the official capital of the country). This success, however, led to growing resentment when Dharmapala confiscated all the lands owned by Buddhist and Hindu institutions and gifted them to the Franciscans. The anger rose when Dharmapala bequeathed his kingdom to the Portuguese crown.12 The Sinhalese resistance was led by Ra
jasimha, the ruler of a rival kingdom, who united a sizeable part of the island under his rule before turning on the foreigners. Although he repeatedly pushed the Portuguese back to Colombo, he was unable to take the fort because it could be continuously resupplied by ship from Goa. After Rajasimha, however, the Sri Lankan resistance collapsed and the Portuguese were able to expand control over much of the coastline. The Sinhalese now withdrew to mountain strongholds around Kandy. They became even more isolated when the Portuguese took over the Tamil kingdom in Jaffna thereby cutting off communications with traditional allies in southern India.

  Given its difficult situation, it is not surprising that the Kingdom of Kandy entered into an alliance with the Dutch in 1638. Together they evicted the Portuguese from Sri Lanka. However, as the Sinhalese may have feared from the beginning, they had only exchanged one foreign colonizer with another. Over the next century, the Dutch would use their base in Sri Lanka to slowly expand control over the Indian coast, especially the pepper ports of Kerala. Perhaps the VOC dreamed that in the long run it could extend control over large parts of India as it had done in Indonesia. However, the world’s most powerful multinational company was thwarted by the remarkable Marthanda Varma, ruler of the small kingdom of Travancore in the southern tip of India.

  The King and the Captain

  Marthanda Varma is a little-discussed figure in history books but without his determined opposition to the VOC, it is possible that this book would have been written in Dutch rather than in English. He was born in the royal family of what was a very tiny kingdom. As per the matrilineal custom of the Nair clans, he inherited the crown from his maternal uncle in 1729 at the age of twenty-three. His problem was that the Dutch tightly controlled the pepper trade on which the prosperity of Kerala depended.13 The locals were unable to put up any resistance because the region was divided into very small kingdoms. Even within the kingdoms, the king had limited say as power was dispersed among the Nair nobility.