Company rule in India | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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1757/1765/1773–1858 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Areas of South Asia under Company rule (a) 1774–1804 and (b) 1805–1858 shown in two shades of pink | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Colony and Princely states | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Capital | Calcutta | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Official languages | 1773–1858: English 1773–1836: Persian[1][2] 1837–1858: primarily Hindustani/Urdu[1][2][3][4] but also: Languages of South Asia. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Government | Administered by the East India Company functioning as a quasi-sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown and regulated by the British Parliament | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Governor-General | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1774–1785 (first Fort William) | Warren Hastings | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1834–1835 (first India) | Lord William Bentinck | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1857–1858 (last) | Charles Canning | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | Early modern | ||||||||||||||||||||||
23 June 1757 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
16 August 1765 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1767–1799 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1772–1818 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1845–1846, 1848–1849 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2 August 1858 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• Nationalisation of the Company and assumption of direct administration by the British crown | 2 August 1858 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1858[5] | 1,940,000 km2 (750,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Currency | Rupee | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Today part of | India Pakistan Bangladesh |
Company rule in India (sometimes Company Raj,[6] from Hindi rāj, lit. 'rule'[7]) was the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud-Daulah was defeated and replaced with Mir Jafar, who had the support of the East India Company;[8] or in 1765, when the Company was granted the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar;[9] or in 1773, when the Company abolished local rule (Nizamat) in Bengal and established a capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General of Fort William, Warren Hastings, and became directly involved in governance.[10] The East India Company significantly expanded its influence throughout the Indian subcontinent after the Anglo-Mysore Wars, Anglo-Maratha Wars, and Anglo-Sikh Wars.[11][12][13] Lord William Bentinck became the first Governor General of India in 1834 under the Government of India Act 1833.[14] The Company India ruled until 1858, when, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Government of India Act 1858, the India Office of the British government assumed the task of directly administering India in the new British Raj.
"Hindoostanee" was instrumental for Company rule in that Gilchrist's grammar books, dictionaries, and translations helped to standardize Urdu as an official language for lower level judicial courts and revenue administration in 1837, replacing Persian.
In 1837 Urdu was formally adopted by the British, in place of Perisan, as the language of interaction between the Government (which from then on conducted its affairs in English) and the local population.
It was only in 1837 that Persian lost its position as official language of India to Urdu and to English in the higher levels of administration.
Paradoxically, many British also clung to Persian. Indeed, the so-called Urdu that replaced Persian as the court language after 1837 was recognisably Persian as far as its nouns were concerned. The courtly heritage of Persian was also to exercise a constraint on the British cultivation of Hindustani/Urdu.
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