India (Cromwell the Great)

The relationship (colonialism and imperialism) of India with Europe begins the Age of Discovery. One of the main catalysts of the Age of Discovery was trade, especially in spices. Near the end of the 15th century, Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama became the first European to re-establish direct trade links with India since Roman times by being the first to arrive by circumnavigating Africa (c. 1497–1499). Having arrived in Calicut, which by then was one of the major trading ports of the eastern world.

Trading rivalries among the seafaring European powers brought other European powers to India. The Portuguese, Dutch Republic, Britain, France, Denmark-Norway, and Flanders established trading posts in India in the early 17th century.

As the Mughal Empire disintegrated in the early 18th century, and then as the Maratha Empire became weakened after the third battle of Panipat, many relatively weak and unstable Indian states which emerged were increasingly open to manipulation by the Europeans, through dependent Indian rulers.

In the later 18th century Britain and France struggled for dominance, partly through proxy Indian rulers but also by direct military intervention. By the middle of the century the British and French had already gained direct or indirect control over almost all of India.