The Portuguese, the Dutch, the English, the Danes and the French came to India as traders. After the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 and closed the land route, Europe had to find a sea route to the East. This chapter covers the sources of modern Indian history and how each European company set up its trading centres in India.
1. Sources of Modern India
- Sources help us know the political, socio-economic and cultural developments in the country.
- The Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, the Danes and the English recorded their official transactions in India on state papers.
- The archives at Lisbon, Goa, Pondicherry and Madras were store houses of precious historical information.
- All sources must be critically evaluated before they are used for historical writing.
- History is written with the help of two kinds of sources: written sources and material sources.