Bantam Presidency
Bantam Presidency | |||||||||||||
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Presidency of Company rule in India | |||||||||||||
1617–1682 | |||||||||||||
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Bantam in 1617 | |||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 1617 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1682 | ||||||||||||
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Bantam Presidency was a
Bantam remained an agency under the suzerainty of Madras and then Surat until Bantam was captured by the Dutch in 1682 and the English factory closed.
Background
In December 1602, a fleet of East India Company ships commanded by James Lancaster reached Bantam and negotiated with the Sultan of Bantam over pepper trade and the opening of a settlement. A factory was eventually opened with eight factors headed by William Starkey as Governor and Thomas Morgan as his deputy. Bantam was one of the oldest possessions of the East India Company and older than all Indian colonies. But seven of the eight factors perished with Morgan in April 1603 and Starkey, himself, in June 1603. Starkey was succeeded as Governor by Edmund Scott.
When a second voyage commanded by
Presidency
Upon successful negotiations with the
However, shortly after the conclusion of peace, hostilities again resumed and the then President of Bantam, Towerson was captured by the Dutch in February 1623 and executed. This was followed by a wholesale attack on all English settlements in South-East Asia. By 1624, the English were forced to vacate the East Indies, Malay peninsula and
In 1628, the English factors at Masulipatnam were forced to move to the factory of
End of the English factory
With Anglo-Dutch relations worsening, the Bantam factory was finally vacated and the seat of the Presidency was moved to Madras in 1653. The factory was soon reestablished however.
In 1682, the factory was abruptly closed down for having taken the losing side in a civil war between the reigning sultan, passively backed by the English, and his rebellious son, who had asked for help from the Dutch. In March, the Dutch landed a considerable force from Batavia and placed the son on the throne, obtaining in exchange exclusive privilege to trade in his territories. On 1 April, a party of Dutch and native soldiers occupied the factory and the factor and the other English were forced to embark with their property on vessels which took them to Batavia, and thence to Surat in August the following year.[1]
Aftermath
Following the loss of Bantam, the Company established a fortified settlement at
Agencies
When the Presidency of Bantam was formed in 1617, there were two agencies that were placed subordinate to the President of Bantam - the agency of Masulipatnam and the agency of Surat.
- Masulipatnam 1610 - 1629, 1634 - 1653
- Pattani 1610 - 1623
- Pettipollee
- Mocha 1618
- Jask 1619
- Macassar
- Acin
- Agra 1620
- Patna 1620
- Ormuz 1622
- Armagaon 1625 - 1653
- Thatta 1634
List of governors of Bantam
- William Starkey 1602 - 1603
- Edmund Scott 1603 - 1605
- John Saris 1605 - 1609
- Augustine Spalding 1609
- Henworth 1609 -1610
- Edward Needles 1610
- Richard Woodies 1610 -1614
- John Jourdain 1614 - 1615
- George Berkeley 1615 - 1617
List of presidents
- George Ball (March 1617 - September 1618)
- John Jackson 1618 - 1619
- John Powell 1619
- Gabriel Towerson 1619 - 1622
- George Willoughby 1624 - 1630
- George Willoughby 1632 - 1636
- Robert Coulson 1636 - 1639
- Aaron Baker 1639 - 1641
- Ralph Cartwright 1641 - 1646
- Aaron Baker 1646 - 1649
- Frederick Skinner 1649 - 1652
References
- ^ William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, London, 1811 (3rd ed.), p. 450.
- ^ East India Factory Records
- Chaudhuri, K. N. (1965). The English East India Company: The Study of an Early Joint-stock Company. Taylor & Francis. p. 46.
- James Stuart Olson; Robert Shadle, eds. (1996). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 110–111.