The Potuguese built trading posts in Asia. They were able to convert many Indians to christianity. The Dutch English and french disrupted Portugueses monopoly. In the 1600s England established the East India Company, which helped them win the rights to build trading posts at Bombay, Calcutta, and Madres. The English wanted goodsfrom the Indians such as cotton, silk, and tea, So they traded there gold and silver.
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The Mughal rulers thought little of the Europeans. The Indians thought Eu
ropeans had little to trade for the spices and textiles.
In the 1700s The Mughal empire started a period of decline. The British and French were competing for political power. The British tried to capitalize on the Mughal's decline. Their goal was to control the small kingdoms in India. the British and French broke into a war to later find allies among local Indian rulers. In 1760 the British overcame the French.
Robert Clive, an administrater of the East India Company(EIC), got control of the Indian state, Bengal, and led British to a victory over the French.
Individual Indian ruler fought to keep the British away from their land. Traditional rivals between the Indians kept them from uniting. One by one the British's EIC found a way to make treaties with the Indian rulers. The EIC gained gigantic wealth from India when the Mughal empire gave the British the right to tax. The British set up a court system and a code of law.
The British Government tried to keep in touch with the EIC, but comunications were slow due to the far distance between Europe and India.