BENGAL PRESIDENCY

The East India Company established its first factory in the Bengal region in 1633. Several factories were established in Orissa, Bengal and Bihar, and initial;ly they were all administered from Madras. In 1698, the Company received rights over Calcutta, a fort was constructed there (Fort William), and in 1715 the Bengal Presidency was created. In 1756, contrary to the instructions of the Nawab of Bangal, Siraj ud-Daulah, the Company engaged in a major fortification of the Fort and eventually the Nawab laid seige to it and captured it. This was the time when the infamous “Black Hole of Calcutta” incident took place. After the Bengal forces captured the fort, some of the captured prisoners escaped, and the officer in charge placed the remaining 146 prisoners in a small 14 x 18 foot room overnight. A significant number perished (the number is not known exactly) from the heat, lack of water and from being trampled in the overcrowded conditions. The Company sent reinforcements commanded by Robert Clive, who recaptured the Fort in January 1757. As part of the peace treaty signed after this event, the Company secured from the Nawab the right to strike coins at their own mint in the style of the local issues from Murshidabad.

Coinage began in June 1757 and, within a couple of weeks, the Battle of Plassey marked the beginning of the creation of the British empire in India. After this battle, the Company acquired property rights over a large part of Bengal and a few years later, in 1764, after the Battle of Buxar, expanded their territory to include much of Bihar and Orissa and even parts of modern Uttar Pradesh. The basis for the Raj was firmly in place.