In this article, we discuss the first Carnatic war for various competitive exams such as UPSC, SSC, etc...
By the year 1670, East India Companies of many countries had come to India. 4 of them were main companies and the name was Portuguese East India Company, Dutch East India Company, British East India Company, and French East India Company.
These were four trading companies and mutual differences and trade wars used to go on between them.
To stay away from this trade war, the Portuguese and the Dutch East India Company separated themselves.
After that in the year 1661, Charles I of England married the daughter of King John IV of Portugal. From this side, the Portuguese trade was out of the way.
Apart from this, King Martand Verma of Travancore was fighting with the Dutch East India Company.
He defeated the Dutch East India Company very badly in the Battle of Kalachal in 1941. The Dutch East India Company had to surrender here.
After this, the Dutch East India Company shifted most of its business from India to Indonesia and Malaysia. In this way, the Dutch East India Company also got out of India.
Now only the French East India Company and the British East India Company were left in India.
The French East India Company had made its settlements in Pondicherry and Karaikal.
The British East India Company built two forts, which were named Fort St. George which later became Madras and Fort St. David who later became Cuddalore.
The main settlements of these two companies are in the Carnatic region. The Carnatic region is basically the region between the Bay of Bengal and the Eastern Ghats. Anwaruddin became the Nawab of this place in 1744.
The Austrian War of Succession was going on in Europe since 1740. Here it was going to be a decision as to who will sit on the throne of Austria. In this war, Britain also took entry in 1744, and Britain and France were fighting against each other.
This tension between Britain and France also affected India. In 1745, the British East India Company attacked French ships standing in the Indian Ocean. With this, the First Carnatic War started.
Now it was the turn of the French East India Company to attack, at that time the governor of the French East India Company was Dupleix.
Dupleix informed the French governor of Mauritius, Bourdonnais. Bourdonnais also immediately reached the Bay of Bengal with his naval force.
This destroyed the British ships and not only this, in September 1746, the French East India Company also captured the British Fort St. George of Madras. Dupleix kept all the Britishers as Prisoners of War.
The Britishers sought help from Anwaruddin, the Nawab of Karnataka. On this Anwaruddin said that there should not be any kind of quarrel in his territory.
Dupleix promised Anwaruddin that after capturing Madras he would give it to him. The Anwaruddin was quiet for a few days but Dupleix did not fulfill its promise.
Therefore, in October 1746, Anwaruddin sent his army to capture Madras. Here on the banks of the Adyar river, a small detachment of the French East India Company badly defeated Anwaruddin's 10,000 army.
This battle is called the Battle of Adyar or the Battle of Santhome. The Battle of Santhome is called because the place where the battle took place was named Santhome.
Now Anwaruddin understood that he could not survive in front of the European Powers.
The Austrian War of Succession in Europe ended in 1748. Britain and France signed a treaty named the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Due to this treaty, the war between the companies of these countries had ended in India too.
In this treaty, a deal was made between France and Britain. In the deal, Britain was to give back the French territory Louisburg to France and in return, France was going to give back Madras to the British East India Company.
In this way, the British East India Company got back Madras.
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