India - Gujarat - European Rule
In 1498 the Portuguese came first to Calicut, their earliest possession in the presidency-being the island of Anjidiv. After their victory at Diu over the Egyptian fleet their mastery of the Indian Ocean was undisputed, and they proceeded to establish themselves on the coast. They captured Goa in 1510, Malacca in 1511, and Ormuz in 1515. They next took advantage of the decay of the kingdom of Gujarat to occupy Chaul (1531), Bassein with its dependencies, including Bombay (1534), Diu (1535) and Daman (1559). But the inherent vices of their intolerant system undermined their power, even before their Dutch and English rivals appeared on the scene.
In 1600’s, the Dutch, French, English and Portuguese – all established bases along the coast of the region acquiring several enclaves along the Gujarati coast, including Daman and Diu as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The British East India Company established a factory in Surat in 1614, which formed their first base in India, but it was eclipsed by Bombay after the British acquired it from Portugal in 1668. The Company wrested control of much of Gujarat from the Marathas during the Second Anglo-Maratha War. Many local rulers, notably the Maratha Gaekwads of Baroda (Vadodara), made a separate peace treaty with the British, and acknowledged British sovereignty in return for retaining local self-rule.
Gujarat was placed under the political authority of the Bombay Presidency, with the exception of Baroda state, which had a direct relationship with the Governor-General of India. In 1803 the Bombay presidency included only Salsette, the islands of the harbour (since 1774), Surat and Bankot (since 1756); but between this date and 1827 the framework of the presidency took its present shape. The Gujarat districts were taken over by the Bombay government in 1805 and enlarged in 1818.
From 1818 to 1947, most of present-day Gujarat, including Kathiawar, Kutch, and northern and eastern Gujarat were divided into dozens of princely states, but several districts in central and southern Gujarat, namely Ahmedabad, Broach (Bharuch), Kaira, Panch Mahals, and Surat, were ruled directly by British officials.
Mountstuart Elphinstone, governor from 1819 to 1827, maintained a policy to rule as far as possible on native lines, avoiding all changes for which the population was not yet ripe; but the grosser abuses of the old régime were stopped, the country was pacified, the laws were codified, and courts and schools were established.
Bubonic plague, of a fatal and contagious nature, first broke out in Bombay City in September 1896. A few districts in Gujarat almost entirely escaped; but the mortality was very heavy in Satara, Thana, Surat, Poona, Kolaba, and in the native states of Cutch, Baroda, Kolhapur and Palanpur.
Under Lord Elphinstone (1853-1860) the Bombay presidency passed through the crisis of the Mutiny without any general rising. Outbreaks among the troops at Karachi, Ahmedabad and Kolhapur were quickly put down, two regiments being disbanded, and the rebellions in Gujarat, among the Bhils, and in the southern Mahratta country were local and isolated.
In 1899 the monsoon again failed in Gujarat, where famine hitherto had been almost unknown; and the winter rains failed in the Deccan, so that distress gradually spread over almost the entire Bombay presidency. The worst feature was a virulent outbreak of cholera in Gujarat, especially in the native states.
A new era began with the Independence movement started by leaders like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Morarji Desai, K.M. Munshi, Narhari Parikh, Mahadev Desai, Mohanlal Pandya, Bhulabhai Desai and Ravi Shankar Vyas all who hailed from Gujarat. Gujarat became a place for some of the most popular revolts, including the Satyagrahas in Kheda, Bardoli, Borsad and the Salt Satyagraha.
After the Independence, in 1948, a Mahagujarat conference took place to integrate the entire Gujarati speaking population under one administrative body and on May 1, 1960, the Bombay State split into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The term ‘Mahagujarat’ encompassed the whole Gujarati speaking area including Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutchh. For the first time after the Sultanate, Gujarat was once again autonomous.
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