The Paltry battle that moved the wheels of Indian History

Suvali or Swally, a quaint near Surat Gujarat would be the theatre that hosted a minor war between the English and the Portuguese trading empires which brought about huge ramifications within the Indian subcontinent.

A sketch by an unknown artist that showed English and Portuguese ships at war; Image Source- British Museum

Battle of Swally or Suvali took place on 29th November 1612 in Suvali. Some also believe that the battle took place on the 30th of November.

India as a country was visited by five major foreign powers – Portuguese, English, French, Dutch and Danish. The Portuguese from the 15th century onwards were desperately trying to figure out alternative roots to India in lieu of spices. Slowly they hegemonised their control over India.

This relatively small battle led to the dismantling of the Portuguese monopoly in India and brought about the rise of the British East Indian Company. As they built a factory in Surat after this war. This would be the beginning of a long metamorphosis from factories in one place to factories in numerous places which would later be coagulated as presidencies.

This small naval battle between a few galleons and barks (galleons and barks are types of ships) took place as a result of the workings of a singular cunning man.

The Portuguese after they discovered a route to the east via the tip of Africa carefully guarded it against other European powers. In such a situation, an individual named Ralph Fitch was caught spying and was arrested in the Portuguese headquarters at Goa. After a lot of requests from Jesuit priests, he was released. After being released he absconded and wandered the lengths and breadths of Indians only to go back to England in 1591 with the knowledge of the entire subcontinent.

He became a very valuable consultant for the British East India Company which would be established in 1600.

The initial English voyages into India was largely unsuccessful, they were not able to get permission from Jahangir's court for trading permissions. The 10th and final voyage into Indian was led by Captain Best but as luck would have it two of his men were arrested by the Portuguese. Following this, Captain Best moved to Suvali aboard his ship Red Dragon and skirmish took place between the English and the Portuguese.

England managed to run aground the Portuguese ships. This English supremacy over the Portuguese left a deep impression on the Mughal governor of Gujarat and from that moment onwards Mughals assumed a much more attitude towards the English because the Mughals already resented the fact that the Portuguese had seized the pilgrim sea route to Mecca.

These dynamics and mechanisms brought Jahangir to issue the Farman or trading privileges to the British under the envoy of Thomas Roe. After this factories were established in Surat, Madras, Bombay and later Calcutta.

Most happenings in history may seem coincidental when looked at from a prima facia point of view but when that event is fitted into historical context the pictures clearly looks very different. The Battle of Swally was one of those prima facia incidents that had a much deeper historical connotation.

A sketch of Ralph Fitch; Image Source- silkroad.com