independance of india

INDEPENDENCE OF INDIA


Introduction
Because of Muslim control of the trade arteries between the Mediterranean and India, various European monarchs had begun to dream of a new route to the Far East. The Portuguese devoted remarkable zeal and initiative to the search for such a route, and in 1497 and 1498 Vasco Da Gama, one of the royal navigators, led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean. On May 19, 1498, Da Gama sailed into the harbor of Calicut, on the Malabar Coast, opening a new era of Indian history. This way, they hoped to control the sea routes of the rich East Indies trade with Europe. Dutch, English and French traders fought the Portuguese, and then each other, for control of Asian trade.
Finally, the Portuguese lost many of their Indian trading ports, partly because of poor management. French trading company established a base at Pondichery. A Dutch firm built up control of trade in Java and the Spice Islands. The English, with...