Explanation:
French illustration of Sir Josiah Child, Bt requesting a pardon from the Emperor Aurangzeb
Date1686–1690
Location
Mughal India
Result
Mughal victory
English East India Company fined
Belligerents
English East India Company
Supported by:
Kingdom of England
Mughal Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sir Josiah Child, Bt
Thomas Pitt
Admiral Nicholson
Captain Heath
Job Charnock
Aurangzeb
Shaista Khan
Daud Khan Panni
Sidi Yaqub
Strength
308 at Kolkata
unknown at Mumbai and Carnatic
Unknown but larger
Casualties and losses
Heavy at Mumbai and Kolkata
Several ships captured and destroyed
In the year 1702, Daud Khan the Mughal Empire's local Subedar of the Carnatic, to besieged and blockaded Fort St. George for more than three months,[1] the governor of the fort, Thomas Pitt was instructed by the East India Company to vie for peace.
The English East India Company had been given a monopoly and numerous fortified bases on western and south-eastern coast of the Mughal India by the Crown, which was permitted by the local governors. In 1682, William Hedges was sent on the behalf of the Company to negotiate with the governor of the proto-industrialised Bengal Subah, Shaista Khan, and to obtain a firman, an imperial directive that would allow the English company regular trading privileges across the Mughal provinces.
In 1685, after some breaking of negotiations by Sir Josiah Child, Bt, the Governor of Bengal reacted by increasing the tributaries of the trade with the north-east from 2% to 3.5%. The company refused the newly introduced taxes and began to try and get the province of Bengal to accept new terms in the favour its trading power and expressed to capture Chittagong, establish a fortified enclave throughout the region, and attain independence of the surrounding subah from the Mughal territory by bringing the local governors and the Hooghly River to their control, which will later allow to form relationships with the Kingdom of Mrauk U based in Arakan (today's Myanmar) and hold substantial power in the Bay of Bengal.[4]
Upon request, King James II[5] sent warships to the company based in India, but the expedition failed.[6] Following the dispatch of twelve warships loaded with troops, a number of battles took place and led to Siege of Mumbai and bombardment of the city of Balasore. New peaceful treaties were negotiated, and the East India Company and sent petitions to Aurangzeb about trades involving the Portuguese at Hooghly and religious intolerance of the Tamil community in Madras, but praised Aurangzeb Alamgir's imperial majesty and compared him with ancient Persia's emperors Cyrus and Darius,[7] however the company eventually failed to reach an agreement.
The English naval forces established a blockade of the Mughal ports on the western Indian coast and engaged in several battles with the Mughal Army, and merchantmen containing Muslim pilgrims to Arabia's Mecca were also captured.[8][9][10]
The East India Company navy blockaded several Mughal ports on the western coast of India and engaged the Mughal Army in battle. The blockade started to effect major cities like Mumbai, Madras, Kolkata and Chittagong, which resulted the intervention of Emperor Aurangzeb, who seized all the factories of the company and arrested members of the East India Company Army, while the Company forces commanded by Sir Josiah Child, Bt captured further Mughal trading ships.[11]
Ultimately the Company was forced to concede by the armed forces of the Mughal Empire and the company was fined 150.000 rupees (roughly equivalent to today's $4.4 million). The company's apology was accepted and the trading privileges were reimposed by Emperor Aurangzeb.[12][13][14]
