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| {{Infobox military conflict
| | [[Anglo-Mughal War (1686–1690)]] was a war fought between [[Mughal Empire]] and [[British East India Company]] in the late 17th century. |
| | conflict = Anglo-Mughal War
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| | image = The English ask pardon of Aurangzeb.jpg
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| | caption = [[Kingdom of France|French]] illustration of [[Josiah Child|Sir Josiah Child, Bt]] requesting a pardon from the [[Mughal Emperor|Emperor]] [[Aurangzeb]]
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| | date = 1686–1690
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| | partof = [[Anglo-Indian Wars]]
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| | place = [[Mughal India]]
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| | result = [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] victory
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| * English East India Company fined
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| | territory =
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| | combatant1 = [[File:Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg|25px]] [[East India Company|English East India Company]]
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| '''Supported by:'''<br>[[File:Flag of England.svg|25px]] [[Kingdom of England]]
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| | combatant2 = [[File:Fictional flag of the Mughal Empire.svg|25px]] '''[[Mughal Empire]]'''
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| | commander1 = [[Josiah Child|Sir Josiah Child, Bt]] <br /> [[Thomas Pitt]] <br /> Admiral Nicholson <br /> Captain Heath <br /> [[Job Charnock]]
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| | commander2 = [[File:Fictional flag of the Mughal Empire.svg|25px]] '''[[Aurangzeb Alamgir]]'''<br /> [[Shaista Khan]] <br /> [[Daud Khan Panni]] <br /> [[Yakut Khan|Sidi Yaqub]]
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| | strength1 = 308 at Hooghly
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| unknown at Mumbai and Carnatic
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| | strength2 = Unknown but larger
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| | casualties1 = Heavy at [[Mumbai]] and Hooghly
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| | casualties2 = Very light
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| }}
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| [[File:Fort St. George, Chennai.jpg|thumb|In the year 1702, [[Daud Khan of the Carnatic|Daud Khan]] the [[Mughal Empire]]'s local [[Subedar]] of the [[Carnatic region|Carnatic]], to besieged and blockaded [[Fort St. George]] for more than three months,<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=A Miscellany of Mutinies and Massacres in India|author=Blackburn, T.R.|date=2007|publisher=APH Publishing Corporation|isbn=9788131301692|url=https://books.google.com/?id=yQgt5SYepi8C|page=11|access-date=2015-02-23}}</ref> the governor of the fort, [[Thomas Pitt]] was instructed by the [[East India Company]] to vie for peace.]]
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| The '''Anglo-Mughal War''',<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Conflict and Cooperation in Anglo-Mughal Trade Relations during the Reign of Aurangzeb|first=Farhat|last=Hasan|journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|volume=34|issue=4|date=1991|pages=351–360|doi=10.1163/156852091X00058|jstor=3632456}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=John Company Armed: The English East India Company, the Anglo-Mughal War and Absolutist Imperialism, c. 1675–1690|first=James|last=Vaugn|journal=Britain and the World|volume=11|issue=1|date=September 2017}}
| | '''Anglo-Mughal War''' may also refer to: |
| </ref> also known as '''Child's War''', was the first [[Anglo-Indian Wars|Anglo-Indian war]] on the [[Indian subcontinent]].
| | *[[Bengal War]] (1757–1765) |
| | | *[[Carnatic Wars]] (1744–1763) |
| The [[East India Company|English East India Company]] had been given a monopoly and numerous fortified bases on western and south-eastern coast of the [[Mughal India]] by [[the Crown]], which was permitted by the local governors. In 1682, [[William Hedges (colonial administrator)|William Hedges]] was sent on the behalf of the Company to negotiate with the governor of the [[proto-industrialisation|proto-industrialised]] [[Bengal Subah]], [[Shaista Khan]], and to obtain a [[firman]], an imperial directive that would allow the English company regular trading privileges across the Mughal provinces.
| | *[[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian rebellion]] (1857) |
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| In 1685, after some breaking of negotiations by [[Josiah Child|Sir Josiah Child, Bt]], the Governor of Bengal reacted by increasing the tributaries of the trade with the north-east from 2% to 3.5%. The company refused the newly introduced taxes and began to try and get the province of Bengal to accept new terms in the favour its trading power and expressed to capture [[Chittagong]], establish a fortified enclave throughout the region, and attain independence of the surrounding [[subah]] from the Mughal territory by bringing the local governors and the [[Hooghly River]] to their control, which will later allow to form relationships with the [[Kingdom of Mrauk U]] based in [[Arakan]] (today's [[Myanmar]]) and hold substantial power in the [[Bay of Bengal]].<ref>India: A History, by John Keay, page 79-81, {{ISBN|9780802195500}}</ref>
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| Upon request, [[James II of England|King James II]]<ref>The Evolution of Judicial Systems and Law in the Sub-continent by Ayub Premi, page 42, [[University of California]]</ref> sent warships to the company based in [[India]], but the expedition failed.<ref>From Plassey to Partition, Śekhara Bandyopādhyāẏa, p39,{{ISBN|81-250-2596-0}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=-EpNz0U8VEQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=plassey+to+partition&lr=#PPA39,M1 Google book]</ref>
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| Following the dispatch of twelve warships loaded with troops, a number of battles took place and led to Siege of Mumbai and bombardment of the city of [[Balasore]]. New peace treaties were negotiated, and the East India Company sent petitions to [[Aurangzeb]] about trades involving the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] at [[Hugli-Chuchura|Hooghly]] and religious intolerance of the [[Tamils|Tamil community]] in [[Madras]], but praised Aurangzeb Alamgir's imperial majesty and compared him with [[Achaemenid Empire|ancient Persia]]'s emperors [[Cyrus]] and [[Darius I|Darius]],<ref name="British Rule page 19-22">India under British Rule, page 19-22, by [[James Talboys Wheeler]]</ref> however the company eventually failed to reach an agreement.
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| The English naval forces established a blockade of the Mughal ports on the western Indian coast and engaged in several battles with the Mughal Army, and ships with [[Muslim]] pilgrims to [[Arabia]]'s [[Mecca]] were also captured.<ref name="The Cambridge Modern History page 699">The Cambridge Modern History, page 699, Volume 5, by Ward and Prothero, Macmillan, 1908, [[University of Michigan]]</ref><ref name="British Rule page 19-22"/><ref>Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813, by Jaswant Lal Mehta, page 16-18, {{ISBN|9781932705546}}</ref>
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| The East India Company navy [[blockade]]d several Mughal ports on the western coast of India and engaged the Mughal Army in battle. The blockade started to effect major cities like [[Chittagong]], [[Madras]] and [[Mumbai]], which resulted in the intervention of [[Mughal Emperor|Emperor]] [[Aurangzeb]], who seized all the factories of the company and arrested members of the [[Presidency armies|East India Company Army]], while the Company forces commanded by [[Josiah Child|Sir Josiah Child, Bt]] captured further Mughal [[Merchant ship|trading ships]].<ref>Anglo-Mughal Commercial Relations, 1583-1717, by Phanindranath Chakrabarty, page 257, published by O.P.S. Publishers, 1983, Original from the [[University of California]]</ref>
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| Ultimately the Company was forced to concede by the [[Army of the Mughal Empire|armed forces of the Mughal Empire]] and the company was fined 150.000 rupees (roughly equivalent to today's $4.4 million). The company's apology was accepted and the trading privileges were reimposed by Emperor Aurangzeb.<ref>Keay, John. India: A History. New York: HarperCollins. 200. pg 372</ref><ref>Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the United States Shaped the Global Periphery, by Atul Kohli, [[Oxford University Press]], 31 Jan 2020, page 42-44</ref><ref>Between Monopoly and Free Trade: The English East India Company, 1600–1757 by Emily Erikson, page 193, [[Princeton University Press]],13 Sept 2016,{{ISBN|9780691173795}}</ref>
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| ==Background==
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| In 1682 the [[East India Company|English East India Company]] sent [[William Hedges (colonial administrator)|William Hedges]] to [[Shaista Khan]], the Mughal governor of [[Bengal Subah]], in order to obtain a [[firman]]: an imperial directive that would grant the Company regular trading privileges throughout the [[Proto-industrialisation|proto-industrialised]] Mughal Empire, the world's largest economy of that time. After the intervention of the company's governor in [[London]], [[Josiah Child|Sir Josiah Child]], with Hedges's mission, causing [[Mughal Emperor|Emperor]] [[Aurangzeb]] to break off the negotiations. After that Child decided to go to war against the Mughals.<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Asia.aspx# |title=Asia Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Asia | Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World |publisher=encyclopedia.com|access-date=2015-02-23}}</ref>
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| ==Events of the War==
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| In 1685 Admiral Nicholson was sent out with twelve ships of war, carrying 200 pieces of cannon and a body of 600 men, to be reinforced by 400 from [[Madras]]. His instructions were to capture and fortify [[Chittagong]], for which purpose 200 additional guns were placed on board, to demand the cession of the encompassing territory, to conciliate the [[Zamindar]]s and [[Taluqdar]]s, to establish a mint, and to enter into a treaty with the ruler of [[Rakhine State|Arakan]]. But the fleet was dispersed during the voyage, and several of the vessels, instead of steering for Chittagong, entered the [[Hooghly River|Hooghly]], and being joined by English troops from Madras, anchored off the Company's factory.
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| The arrival of so formidable an expedition alarmed Shaista Khan, and he offered to compromise his differences with the English; but an unforeseen event brought the negotiation to an abrupt close. Three English soldiers, strolling through the marketplace of Hooghly, quarrelled with Mughal officials, and were severely beaten. After that Nicholson dispatched a force to capture the town.<ref name="ibiblio.org">[http://www.ibiblio.org/britishraj/Marshman1/Chapter08.html ''The History of India from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhousie's Administration''] by [[John Clark Marshman]], 1867.</ref>
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| In 1686, new negotiations started in Chuttanutty which the Mughals intentionally prolonged till their troops could be assembled to attack the English encampment, and English commander Job Charnock retired with his soldiers and establishments to the island of Ingelee, at the mouth of the [[Hooghly River]]. It was a low and deadly swamp, covered with long grass, without any fresh water. In three months 50% of the English troops had died from disease.<ref name="ibiblio.org"/>
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| In 1688, an English fleet was dispatched to [[blockade]] the Mughal harbours in the [[Arabian Sea]] on the western coast of India. Merchantmen containing [[Muslim]] pilgrims to [[Mecca]] (as part of the ''[[hajj]]'') were among those captured. Upon hearing of the blockade, Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir decided to resume negotiations with the English.<ref name="The Cambridge Modern History page 699"/><ref name="British Rule page 19-22"/> However, the Company sent out reinforcements commanded by Captain Heath who on his arrival disallowed the treaty then pending and proceeded to [[Balasore]] which he bombarded unsuccessfully. He then sailed to Chittagong; but finding the fortifications stronger than he had anticipated, landed at Madras.<ref name="ibiblio.org"/>
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| After that Emperor Aurangzeb issued orders for the occupation of the East India Company possessions all over the subcontinent, and the confiscation of their property. As a result, possessions of East India Company were reduced to the fortified towns of Madras and [[Bombay]].<ref name="ibiblio.org"/><ref>Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Surat and Broach by Sir James MacNabb Campbell, Government Central Press, original from [[Cornell University]]</ref>
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| In 1689, the strong Mughal fleet from [[Janjira State|Janjira]] commanded by the [[Sidi Yaqub]] and composed of [[Mappila]] from the [[Ethiopian Empire]] blockaded the East India Company fort in Bombay, [[Fort William, India|Fort William]].<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Aurangzeb & his times|author=Faruki, Z.|date=1935|publisher=Idarah-i Adabiyāt-i Delli|url=https://books.google.com/?id=vvNtAAAAMAAJ|access-date=2015-02-23}}</ref> After a year of resistance, a famine broke out due to the blockade, the Company surrendered, and in 1690 the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb's court to plea for a pardon and to renew the trade firman. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large imperial fine of 1,50,000 rupees, and promise better behavior in the future. [[Auranzeb|Emperor Aurangzeb]] then ordered [[Sidi Yaqub]] to lift the [[Siege of Bombay]] and the company subsequently re-established itself in Bombay and set up a new base in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]].<ref name="encyclopedia"/>
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| ==See also== | | ==See also== |
| *[[Henry Every]] | | *[[Battle of Delhi (1803)]], Mughals lose all possessions beyond Saharanpur (Old Delhi) |
| *[[Thomas Tew]]
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| ==References==
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| <references/>
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| {{Mughal Empire}}
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| [[Category:Wars involving the British East India Company]]
| | {{disambiguation}} |
| [[Category:Wars involving the Mughal Empire]]
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| [[Category:1680s in India]]
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| [[Category:1690 in India]]
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| [[Category:1680s in the Mughal Empire]]
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| [[Category:1690 in the Mughal Empire]]
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