NCERT Book Class 8 Social Science (History) Chapter 2 From Trade to Territory The Company Establishes Power

2 From Trade to Territory
The Company Establishes Power

Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He
established control over a very large part of the territory
that is now known as India. After his death in 1707,
many Mughal governors (subadars) and big zamindars
began asserting their authority and establishing regional
kingdoms. As powerful regional kingdoms emerged in
various parts of India, Delhi could no longer function as
an effective centre.
By the second half of the eighteenth century,
however, a new power was emerging on the political
horizon – the British. Did you know that the British
originally came as a small trading company and were
reluctant to acquire territories? How then did they come
to be masters of a vast empire? In this chapter you will
see how this came about.

Fig. 1 – Bahadur Shah Zafar
and his sons being arrested by
Captain Hodson
After Aurangzeb there was no
powerful Mughal ruler, but
Mughal emperors continued to
be symbolically important. In
fact, when a massive rebellion
against British rule broke out in
1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar, the
Mughal emperor at the time, was
seen as the natural leader. Once
the revolt was put down by the
company, Bahadur Shah Zafar
was forced to leave the kingdom,
and his sons were shot in
cold blood.

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