Know Your City | How the first English factory in India was established at Surat

The main opposition came from two quarters: the Portuguese, who had made a determined effort to maintain their trade monopoly on the West Coast, which they had established for nearly 100 years, aided by their unquestioned naval supremacy in the Indian seas. They were supported by the powerful influence of the Jesuit mission at Jahangir’s court. Though primarily a religious mission, it functioned as a political embassy on behalf of the Viceroy at Goa to further the political and commercial interests of the Portuguese state in India.

The second objection came from Muqarrab Khan, the Mughal governor of Surat and Cambay (now Khambhat). He persistently thwarted the English attempts to settle at Surat, as he was wholly in favour of the Portuguese, having been on very “friendly” terms with them.

The English first encountered Portuguese hostility when two small boats with 30 Englishmen, carrying their goods towards the mouth of the Tapti (now Tapi) river, were captured by the Portuguese. They confiscated the goods and took the crew to Goa as prisoners. All protests by Hawkins were treated with contempt, and he was told that the Indian seas belonged exclusively to Portugal. Subsequently, adding insult to injury, Muqarrab Khan visited Hawkins’ residence and seized goods that caught his fancy, offering only a price he deemed appropriate.

Nevertheless, Hawkins managed to reach the Imperial Court, where he was admitted among the select company of high nobles of Jahangir and given a small mansab (position). However, he faced formidable opposition from the Jesuit priests regarding any trade concessions to the English company. Additionally, the Portuguese governor of Goa closed the ports of Gujarat to all trade as a protest against the friendly reception of the English, rendering Hawkins’ stay at the Imperial Court inconsequential. Eventually, his patience exhausted, he sought and was granted permission to leave.

Some seven months after Hawkins departed, and following another inconsequential attempt that left hopes for establishing English trade on the West Coast at a low ebb, Thomas Best of the East India Company arrived with two ships at Surat on September 7, 1612.

This was a memorable event in Indian history, for he and the English merchants aboard the ships were to establish the first English factory of the company at Surat, thereby laying the foundations of the trade connection between England and India, which would have significant political consequences. Best sent some of his merchants to the town to explore the situation. They returned after a few days with reports of a warm reception and assurances of peaceful trade. The welcome offered to Best by the civil authorities, especially the governor of the castle, was equally cordial.

Thereafter, all the English merchants left the ships to settle in the town, and the cargo brought in the ships was also landed in Surat. On October 13, a formal conference took place at Suvali in the Hazira suburb of Surat between Captain Best, the diwan from Ahmedabad and a top Surat official to settle the terms for formally establishing English trade. This lasted for two days and ended in the signing of an agreement comprising 13 articles. The diwan promised to secure an imperial farman (royal order) in confirmation of the agreement within 40 days.

The Portuguese, having prior knowledge of the arrival of the English ships, wasted no time in equipping a powerful armada to drive out these intruders on their nation’s monopoly of trade with the East. Against the large Portuguese armada comprising 2,000 men, Best had only 200 Englishmen. Though few in number, these Englishmen were expert seamen and gunners and their national combativeness was heightened by the awareness that defeat would mean the destruction of their vessels and imprisonment in a Portuguese prison. Rather than remaining in the confined waters of the Swally Hole, Best sailed out to the open sea, where his light vessels would have more scope for outmanoeuvring their opponents.

The first naval action took place on November 30, 1612, almost within sight of the shore, where it was witnessed by English merchants and local people. Best brought his ships close to those of the enemy and peppered them with large and small shots until they were put out of action and forced to retire with heavy losses in killed and wounded. The two great maritime powers of Europe had thus tried conclusions in Indian waters. Best’s victory, followed by that of Captain Nicholas Downton over the Portuguese as an aftermath of the “Rahimi” incident two years later, decimated the great reputation the Portuguese had acquired in the East through their achievements over 100 years in the Arabian Sea. This pleased Jahangir immensely and was noted in his autobiography, Jahangirnama.

However, Best knew well that his Portuguese opponents had retired only to regroup and return the attack. His own water and supplies were running short, so he decided to cross over to the coast of Saurashtra to secure them. He anchored for a week at Jafrabad and later at Mahua. As expected, the Portuguese commander, having refitted his fleet at Daman and Diu, soon made his appearance near Mahua and offered battle for the second time. Once again, the English ships subjected the Portuguese galleons to heavy fire, so much so that their commander, Nuno Da Cunha, thought it better to retreat.

On the English side, the fresh engagement had depleted Captain Best’s stocks of powder and shot. He had exhausted nearly half of his entire supply and, unlike Da Cunha, had no local facilities to replenish his munitions. Aware that his opponent had been punished but not crippled, Best sailed back to the safe storage anchorage at Swally Bar on December 27, 1612.

At this stage, Best grew impatient, as the royal farman had not yet arrived. He asked his chief merchant, Thomas Aldworth, to wind up his affairs quickly and return to the ship with all his colleagues and the goods left unsold. Best had all but abandoned hope of establishing a British factory at Surat. Aldworth, who understood the ground situation better, was, however, more optimistic. He was determined to carry on the trade and persisted in disobeying Best’s call to return to the English ships.

At this stage, Best also received the royal farman, due to the change in Jahangir’s attitude towards the British following the English victories over the Portuguese. It was handed over by the Shahbandar and the leading Indian merchants to Captain Best with much ceremony. In response to his enquiry, they informed him that it confirmed in all respects the articles signed in the tripartite agreement more than two months prior. Captain Best was then awarded full credit for having laid the foundation of the English factory at Surat, partly due to his significant victory over the overwhelming naval strength of the Portuguese. He also secured the royal farman in confirmation of the terms settled with the local authorities. Most historians count the date of this imperial decree as the beginning of the English legal settlement on the subcontinent.

Many other historians believe that it was perhaps more due to Thomas Aldworth, the chief of the merchants, than to Captain Best, as he stood his ground and refused to return despite persistent calls from Best to come back to the ships for the return journey. Aldworth became the first chief of the English factory at Surat. In this context, a factory is described as a place where the factors, or commercial agents, resided to transact business for their employers.

(Dr Amarjit Singh is a retired IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre who has held posts in the central and state governments)