Saturday, January 4, 2014

Surat 1760 - सूरत - १७६०

Surat 1760 - सूरत - १७६०

You can see the British flag on the fort. do you know why?
Surat was the jewel in the crown of the Mughal empire. It was also a naval base of the Mughals. The Siddis of Janjira, who were the Admirals of Mughal empire, had stationed a fleet here for the protection of trade and commerce.
The Mughal subhedar of Surat, the Siddi admiral, Gaikwads of Baroda and Dabhades seems to have arrived at a mutual understanding with regards to Surat.
Nanasaheb peshwa had been scheming to get the Subhedari of the Navy for the Marathas. However, the EIC beat him to it when they captured Surat in 1759. Not only did the company capture the entire Mughal fleet there, they later got the Subhedari of the Mughal fleet too, through a farman by the Emperor himself.
Now the question remains why didn't Marathas do something about it???

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