History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s2: § 2. Rapid growth of English trade in Bengal.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s2
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§ 2. Rapid growth of English trade in Bengal.
v5.c83.s2.1
The trade with Bengal was very prosperous. Raw silk was abundant; the taffetas were various and fine; the saltpetre was cheap and of the best quality; the gold and silver sent from England were eagerly taken up by the Indians. Such was the happy prospect in 1658. But the war of succession which broke out in that very year disturbed the country's peace and unsettled the administration everywhere, and most of all in a frontier province like Bengal. The viceroyalty of Mir Jumla (1659-1663) was entirely occupied by a series of campaigns which left him no time to settle the country and restore the civil government. Local officials began to make illegal exactions from the English traders, fearing no punishment for violating their former master's charter. Then followed the rule of a temporary acting viceroy*, which only increased the disorder and oppression, till Shaista Khan, the permanent subahdar of Bengal, arrived in March 1664.
v5.c83.s2.2
∗ Of the disorders of this interregnum a graphic picture
v5.c83.s2.3
In 1661 further changes were made in the government of the English factories in India; all the Bengal establishments were made subordinate to the Presidency of Madras, which now became of equal rank with Surat. The Bengal trade continued to grow rapidly: in 1668 the Company exported from the province goods worth £34,000, in 1675 the value rose to £85,000, in 1677 to £100,000, and in 1680 to £150,000. Subordinate factories were opened at Dacca in 1668, and at Malda in 1676. In addition to buying local manufactures, the English sent out European dyers to Bengal to improve the colour of the silk cloth bought locally, and they also inaugurated the Bengal Pilot Service for navigating the Ganges from Hughli to the sea (1668). The first British ship sailed up the Ganges from the Bay of Bengal in 1679.