The Anglo-Mughal War (1686-1690)

Despite the fact that Jahangir had given the British East India company permission to build factories in Surat, ties between the company and the Mughals would remain strained and these ties would be sorely tested following the death of Jahangir.

Shah Jahan, would be the next to assume the Mughal throne, after a brief battle of ascendency with his brother Shahryar Mirza, a contest that Shah Jahan would win.

During the reign of Shah Jahan, the British East India Company would be left mostly to its own devices, to expand and propagate trade, while the Mughals were busy consolidating their empire that was under threat at the time from local sultanates that were trying to break free and assert their independence, and the Mughals would be forced to fight wars on numerous fronts.

Following the death of Shah Jahan, his third son Aurangzeb would become emperor, and Aurangzeb would prove to be much more astute than his father and would successfully consolidate the Mughal Empire, including signing a treaty with the Bijapur sultanate.

The Bijapuris would later stand with him and Shaista Khan in the Anglo-Mughal War, a war that lasted 4 years from 1686 - 1690.

The British East India Company in an attempt to expand its trade would start exploiting Mughal territories and this would put the Mughals and the British East India Company in direct conflict and the entire Mughal Empire would be drawn into the war that ensued.

The company started by trying to acquire more favorable trading terms with the Mughal Empire and its dependencies and Aurangzeb would refuse. As a result, King James II would send a fleet of 12 ships to reinforce the outpost in Chittagong. It’s unclear if the ships made it to Chittagong, but the move would prompt the Mughal general in Chittagong to start negotiations with the British but before those negotiations could get underway an incident between British East India Company Soldiers and Mughal Soldiers would prompt the British to attack. The attack would be followed by a Mughal declaration of war, with the Mughals retaliating on all fronts including attacks on Bombay and Madras.

The war would cause severe damage and result in an unprecedented loss of lives, and it would lead to famine in Bombay, which resulted from a naval blockade that lasted for approximately a year.

The following death toll and the insurmountable losses would force the company to surrender and the British East India Company would abandon Chittagong and set up a new outpost in Calcutta which would go on to become the third major British East India Company outpost in the subcontinent. 

Copyright © 2020 by Dyarne Ward and Kathiresan Ramachanderam