In 1453 AD, due to the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks, Europe's traditional trade route between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf was closed. After this, as a result of Renaissance and scientific progress in Europe, the search for new sea routes started. With the encouragement of Prince 'Henry the Navigator' of Portugal, Bartholomew Dias reached the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope/Cape of Storms) in 1488. On June 7, 1494, the 'Treaty of Tordesillas' was signed between Spain and Portugal, under which an imaginary line was drawn 370 leagues west from the Cape Verde Islands and the eastern part was handed over to Portugal and the western part to Spain. Statement D is false because Christopher Columbus, who set out under the flag of Spain in 1492, discovered America (West Indies/Bahamas) while searching for India, while Brazil was discovered by the Portuguese sailor Pedro Alvarez Cabral in 1500 AD. Hence, option A is the correct answer since only A, B and C are correct.

On May 20, 1498, Portuguese sailor Vasco-da-Gama reached Kappad coast of Calicut with four ships (the main ship being Sao Gabriel) after completing a sea voyage of 90 days. In this journey, the famous sailor and businessman Abdul Majeed (Abdul Manik) of Gujarat played the role of guide and pilot from Malindi in Africa to India. The then Hindu ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin (Samuthiri), gave a friendly welcome to Vasco-da-Gama and allowed him to keep goods and trade, although the Arab traders already established in Calicut strongly opposed the presence of the Portuguese (hence option C is the correct answer due to incorrect facts). Vasco-da-Gama's sale of spices and pepper taken from India to European markets resulted in a net profit of 60 times the total expense of the entire expedition, which created a direct trade competition with India throughout Europe.

With the efforts of Pedro Alvarez Cabral and Alfonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese established their first trading post in India in Cochin in 1503 AD and the second in Coonoor in 1505 AD. The Dutch United East India Company (VOC), formed in 1602, established its first trading post in India at Masulipatnam (Machilipatnam) on the Coromandel Coast in 1605 AD. On behalf of the British, Captain William Hawkins came to Surat in 1608, but after defeating the Portuguese in the Swali War (1612), by the royal decree of Jahangir, the first permanent factory of the British was established in Surat in 1613 AD under Thomas Aldworth (a temporary center was opened in Masulipatnam in 1611). Francis Caro, representative of the French East India Company (1664), established the first French factory at Surat in 1668 AD and the second factory at Masulipatnam in 1669. Hence the correct combination is A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

Francisco de Almeida (1505–1509) was the first Portuguese Viceroy in India, sent by the Portuguese Emperor Manuel I with instructions to construct forts and trade protection at Cochin, Coonoor and Anjidive. Almeida believed that territorial expansion on the Indian mainland would be suicidal for a small country like Portugal, so he aimed to establish complete sovereignty over the Indian Ocean by implementing the 'Blue Water Policy / Cartaz System'. Statement C is incorrect because in the Battle of Chaul in 1508, the combined fleet of Mamluk Sultan Amir Hussain of Egypt and Sultan Mahmud Begada of Gujarat defeated the Portuguese ships in which Lorenzo, son of Almeida, was killed. In retaliation, Almeida fought the 'Battle of Diu' in February 1509 and completely destroyed the combined fleet of Egypt-Turkish-Gujarat-Calicut, thereby establishing the Portuguese's sole maritime empire in the Indian Ocean throughout the 16th century. Hence only A, B and D are correct.

Alfonso de Albuquerque (1509–1515) is considered the real founder of the Portuguese Empire in India. He conquered Goa from Sultan Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur in November 1510, assisted by the local Hindu chieftain Timoja. Albuquerque provided a strong strategic base to the Portuguese Empire by capturing 'Malacca' (1511), the key to the spice trade in the east, and 'Hormuz' (1515), located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, in the west. To create a permanent Portuguese population and social base in India, he promoted the 'Policy of Mixed Marriages'. Statement D is completely false because Albuquerque imposed a strict ban on the practice of Sati in Goa under his jurisdiction and made administrative reforms to support the local population. Hence, since statements A, B and C are correct, option A is the correct answer.

The tenure of Portuguese Governor Nino da Cunha (1529–1538) is known for the administrative consolidation and territorial expansion of the Portuguese Empire. He shifted the main administrative center and capital of the Portuguese Empire from Cochin to Goa in the year 1530, after which Goa became the permanent capital of Portuguese India. He established Portuguese control over Bassein in 1534 and Diu in 1535 during negotiations with Bahadur Shah, the ruler of Gujarat. He laid the foundation of Portuguese settlements at Hooghly in eastern India (Bengal) and St. Thome (near Madras) on the Coromandel Coast. Options B and C are false because Calcutta and Madras were British colonies and the capital remained Goa. Option D is also historically incorrect. Hence option A is the correct answer.

The Portuguese established a strict maritime monopoly in the Indian Ocean under the 'Estado da India'. Under this the 'Cartaz System' was made mandatory; No Asian or Arab ship could sail without a Portuguese permit. In the name of providing security to ships and preventing piracy, the 'Armada-Convoy System' was run, the real purpose of which was to collect toll and control trade. Despite the Mughal Empire having a huge land army, due to lack of a powerful navy, even the ships of Mughal Emperor Akbar going to Mecca had to buy Carthage from the Portuguese. Statement D is wrong because the Portuguese had declared their complete royal monopoly on the import and trade of pepper, weapons, gunpowder and war horses coming from Arabia/Persia and no other trader was allowed to do so. Hence option A is the correct answer.

The arrival of the Portuguese had a lasting impact on India's economy, agriculture and culture. The first printing press in India was established by Jesuit missionaries in Goa in 1556 AD, where India's first book was printed in 1557. The Portuguese physician García da Orta wrote the pioneering treatise 'Coloquios' on Indian herbs and medicinal plants in Goa in 1563. The Portuguese brought crops like tobacco, potato, tomato, red chilli, cashew, maize, pineapple, guava and papaya to India from Central and South America. Apart from this, European 'Gothic architecture' in the construction of churches and cathedrals on the western coast of India and advanced casting and artillery techniques in ships were the contribution of the Portuguese. Hence the correct combination is A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

The Portuguese came to India not only for trade gains but also for the purpose of proselytization with the blessings of the Pope. In 1542, St. Francis In the year 1560, 'Goa Inquisition' (religious investigation court) was established in Goa, which banned idol worship, demolished Hindu temples and imposed harsh punishments on neo-Christians following old customs. Statement D is false because the extreme religious intolerance, forced conversions and piracy of the Portuguese made the Mughal emperors (especially Shah Jahan), Marathas and local rulers their bitter enemies, which became the main reason for their downfall. Hence only A, B and C are correct.

Portuguese power declined rapidly in the 17th century. In 1612, the British defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Swali, breaking the myth of their naval invincibility. In 1632, due to the illegal monopoly of the Portuguese in the salt trade in Bengal, the buying and selling of slaves and the forced conversion of Mughal women, Shahjahan's Subedar Qasim Khan destroyed the Portuguese fort of Hooghly and drove them away. In 1661, Bombay was handed over to the British under a marital treaty. Statement D is false because the Portuguese remained in Goa, Daman and Diu in India till 1961; The Government of Independent India liberated Goa by conducting 'Operation Vijay' by the Indian Army on 18–19 December 1961 and incorporated it into the Union of India. Hence statements A, B and C are true.

The 'United East India Company' (VOC) was formed by the Dutch Parliament on 20 March 1602 by combining various competing Dutch trading companies, with a total initial capital of about 65 lakh guilders. It was the first multinational joint-stock company in modern history to issue shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and pay dividends to shareholders. The Dutch government had granted it sovereign rights to make war, make treaties, build forts and mint coins. Statement D is false because the highest administrative board of the Company operated from the 'Gentlemen Seventeen' (Heeren XVII) Netherlands, while the highest headquarters of the Dutch Empire in Asia was 'Batavia' (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia), established in 1619, and not Surat. Hence only A, B and C are correct.

The Dutch established their factory at Pulicat on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra border in 1609–1610 and built 'Fort Galdrea' there; The Dutch established their mint in Pulicat and minted the famous gold 'Pagoda' coins. In Bengal, a Dutch factory was built in Chinsura in 1635, where 'Fort Gustavus' was built and it became the main center of Dutch cotton textile, silk and saltpeter trade in Bengal. In 1658 the Dutch captured Nagapattinam from the Portuguese and in 1690 replaced Pulicat with Nagapattinam as the main headquarters of the Coromandel Coast. In 1663, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese and captured Cochin and gained control over the spice trade of Malabar. Hence the correct combination is A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

The biggest feature of the Dutch trading strategy was that they made Indian cotton textiles a major item of international trade. Dutch traders used Coromandel and cotton textiles from Gujarat as barter currency instead of European gold and silver to obtain spices from the spice islands of Indonesia (Malay Archipelago, Sumatra, Java, Molucca). Apart from this, the Dutch exported silk, saltpetre (for manufacturing gunpowder) and opium from Bengal and indigo from Surat on a large scale. The priority of the Dutch was to earn pure trade profits rather than establishing regional dominance. Options B, C and D are historically incorrect. Hence option A is the correct answer.

The decline of Dutch power in India was brought about by two decisive battles. First, in 1741, Travancore's heroic king Marthanda Varma ended the Dutch spice monopoly in Malabar by defeating the Dutch commander Eustachius de Lannoy in the historic Battle of Colachel (de Lannoy later modernized Travancore's army after surrendering). Second, after Plassey, when the Dutch conspired against the British with the Nawab of Bengal Mir Jafar, in the battle of Bedara (near Chinsura) in November 1759, British Colonels Ford and Clive crushed the Dutch army. After this the political ambitions of the Dutch completely ended in India. Ultimately, by the agreements of 1824-25, the British gave up their claims to Sumatra and Malaya and the Dutch concentrated on Indonesia, ceding all their bases in India to the British. Hence, all four statements A, B, C and D are completely true.

In 1599 AD, under the chairmanship of the Lord Mayor, more than 80 leading merchants of London ('Merchant Adventurers') established a joint company for maritime trade with eastern countries. On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted by a historic charter to 'The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies' a trading monopoly with all the eastern countries from the Cape of Good Hope to the Strait of Magellan for 15 years (which was extended indefinitely by King James I in 1609). The management of the company was in the hands of a 24-member 'Court of Directors' and a Governor. Statement D is incorrect because the Company was founded purely as a business enterprise and not to establish political or administrative rule. Hence only A, B and C are correct.

Captain William Hawkins reached Agra in April 1609 with a letter from James I. He was well versed in Turkish and Persian, which greatly pleased Jahangir and he granted him the title of 'English Khan' (Firangi Khan), a caste mansab of 400, jagir and permission to marry an Armenian Christian woman. But under pressure from the local merchants and Portuguese Jesuits of Surat, Jahangir refused to allow the British to open factories in Surat and Hawkins returned unsuccessfully in 1611 (hence statement D is incorrect). After this, in 1615, Sir Thomas Roe came to Jahangir's court in Ajmer as a formal ambassador of King James I and stayed till 1619. Through his diplomatic efforts, Ro obtained royal orders to establish factories and trade throughout the Mughal Empire. Hence option A is correct.

On 29–30 November 1612, a historic naval battle took place at Swally Hole off the coast of Surat. Captain Thomas Best, commander of the British East India Company, with the help of his two ships ('Red Dragon' and 'Hosiander') inflicted a crushing defeat on the Portuguese naval fleet. This defeat made it clear to the Mughal Emperor Jahangir and the local Mughal Subedar Sardar Khan that the power of the Portuguese at sea was not invincible and the British navy was more superior than them. As a result, Jahangir issued a royal decree in January 1613 giving formal permission to the British to establish their first permanent trading post in Surat under Thomas Aldworth. Other options are not related to this event. Hence option A is the correct answer.

The British opened their first trading post in South India in 1611 AD at Masulipatnam, the major port of Golconda state. In 1626 the British built their second and first fortified trading post at Armagaon near Pulicat. In the year 1639, the British officer Francis Day leased Madraspatnam (Madras) from Venkatappa Nayak, the representative of the king of Chandragiri, and built the famous fort named 'Fort St. George' there in 1640, which became the main presidency headquarters of the British in South India. The British established their first factories in Eastern India in 1633 AD at Hariharpur (Mahanadi Delta) and Balasore in Odisha. Hence the correct combination is A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

बम्बई का अधिग्रहण ब्रिटिश साम्राज्य के विस्तार में अत्यंत महत्वपूर्ण मोड़ था। 1661 में पुर्तगाली राजकुमारी कैथरीन और ब्रिटिश सम्राट चार्ल्स द्वितीय के विवाह पर पुर्तगालियों ने बम्बई द्वीपसमूह ब्रिटिश क्राउन को दहेज स्वरूप दिया। चार्ल्स द्वितीय ने 1668 में इसे 10 पाउंड प्रति वर्ष के मामूली किराये पर ईस्ट इंडिया कंपनी को सौंप दिया। 1669 से 1677 तक बम्बई के गवर्नर रहे गेराल्ड ऑन्गियर ने शहर की किलेबंदी कराई, यूरोपीय व्यापारियों, पारसियों व गुजराती महाजनों को बसने हेतु आकर्षित किया, बैंक, टकसाल और विधि न्यायालय स्थापित किए, जिसके कारण उन्हें 'बम्बई का संस्थापक' कहा जाता है। 1687 में कंपनी ने पश्चिमी प्रेसीडेंसी का मुख्य प्रशासनिक मुख्यालय सूरत से बम्बई स्थानांतरित कर दिया। Hence, all four statements A, B, C and D are completely true.

On 24 August 1690, Job Charnock laid the foundation of English Kothi in Sutanati village, which is considered the foundation day of Calcutta. In 1698, Subedar Azim-us-Shan of Bengal (grandson of Aurangzeb) gave permission to transfer the zamindari of Sutanati, Kalikata and Govindpur to the Company for ₹1200 from the local zamindar Sabarn Rai Chaudhary. In 1700 the fortified factory was named 'Fort William' in honor of King William III of England and declared the first Presidency. Statement D is false because the first President/Governor of Fort William was Sir Charles Eyre and not Robert Clive (Clive had become the Governor of Bengal at Plassey in 1757). Hence only A, B and C are true.

In the year 1715, a British embassy led by John Surman came to Delhi to the court of the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. The party's physician, Dr. William Hamilton, cured the emperor of a serious illness, pleased with which Farrukhsiyar issued three separate royal decrees (for Bengal, Gujarat, Hyderabad) in 1717. Historian Robert Orme called it the 'Magna Carta' of the company's history. Under this, the entire import-export of the company was made tax-free in Bengal on an annual payment of only ₹ 3,000 and it got the right to issue Dastak. All taxes at ₹10,000 annually were waived in Surat, permission was granted to lease 38 villages around Calcutta, and coins minted at the Bombay mint were recognized as legal tender throughout the Mughal Empire. Hence all four statements are true.

In 1686 AD, on the orders of the then ambitious director of the company, Sir Josiah Child, the British attacked the city of Hooghly and the Mughal forts in Bengal and took hostage the Mughal Hajj ships going to Mecca on the west coast. Enraged by this, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Mughal generals Shaista Khan and Siddi Yakub to destroy all the bases of the British. The Mughal army captured the factories of Hooghly, Qasim Bazar, Patna, Machilipatnam and Bombay and the British had to take refuge in the marshy lands of Bengal (Fever Island - Ingeli). Ultimately, seeing their great weakness, the company surrendered to Aurangzeb in 1690, apologized and paid a huge compensation of ₹ 1.5 lakh (Rs 1.5 lakh), only after which Aurangzeb allowed them to trade again. Hence option A is the correct answer.

The Danish Company was established in 1616 and acquired land from the Nayak ruler of Thanjavur in 1620 and built 'Fort Dansborg' at Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu). In 1755, a second settlement was established at Serampore (Bengal) on the banks of the Hooghly River, which became the headquarters of Danish India. The Dane merchants became known more for evangelism and social reform than for commercial profit; Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg printed the first Tamil translation of the New Testament at Tranquebar (1714) and in 1800 William Carey, Marshman and Ward (the Serampore triumvirate) established the Serampore Mission Press and Serampore College. Statement D is false because the Danish Company remained commercially weak and in 1845 it sold all its settlements (Trunkebar and Serampore) to the British East India Company for ₹12.5 lakh and returned from India. Hence only A, B and C are correct.

Francis Caro, Director General of the French East India Company, opened the first French factory in Surat in 1668. In 1673 François Martin and Bélanger de Lespine obtained a small village from Sher Khan Lodi, the Muslim Subedar of Valikondapuram (Karnataka), which Martin developed as 'Pondicherry' and built 'Fort Louis' in 1674 (Martin is considered the actual founder of Pondicherry). Chandernagar Factory was established in Bengal on land given by Mughal Subedar Shaista Khan in 1690-1692. Mahe on the Malabar coast in 1725 and Karaikal from the Raja of Tanjore in 1739 were taken under French influence under French governors Dumas and Lenoir. Hence the correct combination is A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

In 1664, Colbert, minister during the reign of Louis XIV, founded the 'Compagnie des Indes Orientales', in which more than 50% of the capital was given by the king. This company was an institution created, maintained and controlled by the state, whose directors were also appointed by the emperor. In contrast, the British East India Company was an autonomous company of private capitalists focused only on commercial profits and the interests of shareholders. Statement D is false because the French company had excessive bureaucratic control, corruption, and government interference; Officials could not take independent decisions without the consent of the Paris government and whenever France got involved in European wars, funding and military aid to the Company was cut off, which became the main reason for the defeat of the French in India. Hence only A, B and C are correct.

The First Carnatic War was the Indian extension of Europe's War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48). When the British commander Barnet captured some French ships, the French Governor Dupleix, with the help of the naval fleet of Mauritius Governor La Bourdonnais, captured Madras from the British in September 1746. When Nawab Anwaruddin of Karnataka asked to evacuate Madras due to breach of peace in his territory, the Nawab's son Mahfouz Khan attacked with a huge army of 10,000. In the 'Battle of St. Thome' on the Adyar River in 1746, a small disciplined force (230 Europeans + 700 Indian soldiers) led by French Captain Paradise defeated the Nawab's huge army. It proved that European artillery and military discipline was superior to the Indian conventional army. The war ended with the 'Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle' in 1748 and Madras was returned to the British in exchange for Louisbourg in America. Hence all four statements are true.

The death of Asafzah Nizam-ul-Mulk, the founder of Hyderabad in 1748, led to a dispute between his son Nasir Jung and grandson Muzaffar Jung; At the same time, a conflict broke out in Karnataka between Anwaruddin and his brother-in-law Chanda Sahib for the post of Nawab. Dupleix took advantage of the opportunity and made a secret alliance with Muzaffar Jang and Chanda Sahib and made Chanda Sahib the Nawab by killing Anwaruddin in the 'Battle of Ambur' on 3 August 1749. Anwaruddin's son Muhammad Ali fled to Trichanapalli. When the French were besieging Trichenappalli, Robert Clive, a young clerk of the British East India Company, coming out of Madras, suddenly captured 'Arcot', the capital of Chanda Sahib, and withstood the heavy siege for 53 days. After this defeat, Chanda Sahib was killed and Muhammad Ali, a supporter of the British, was made the Nawab of Karnataka. The war ended by the Treaty of Pondicherry in 1754 and Dupleix was recalled to France. Hence, all four statements A, B, C and D are completely true.

As soon as the 'Seven Years' War' started in Europe in 1756 between the Austria-France alliance and Britain-Prussia, the Third Carnatic War broke out in India. France sent Count de Lally, who captured Fort St. David in 1758, but he made the huge strategic mistake of withdrawing the capable commander Bussy from Hyderabad, which ended Hyderabad's influence. On 22 January 1760, the 'historic Battle of Wandiwash' took place in Tamil Nadu in which the British General Sir Eyre Coote decisively defeated Lally and captured Bussy. The British also conquered Pondicherry in 1761. Statement D is false because under the 'Treaty of Paris' of 1763, the French got the factories like Pondicherry, Chandernagore etc. back, but a strict condition was kept that they would not fortify these centers nor keep any army there; They will remain only pure traders. Thus the dream of French empire in India ended forever. Hence only A, B and C are true.

The battle for supremacy in India between European companies passed through four historical turning points. First, Captain Best defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Swali in 1612 and ensured the establishment of an English factory in Surat. Second, Raja Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch in the Battle of Colachel in 1741 and broke their monopoly in Malabar. Third, in the battle of Bedara (Bengal) in November 1759, Clive and Ford crushed the Dutch army and wiped out the Dutch from the politics of Bengal forever. Fourth, on 22 January 1760, Sir Eyre Coote defeated Count de Lally in the battle of Wandiwash, completely ending the French challenge in India. Hence the correct combination is A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4.

The success of the British in India was not due to any single cause, but was the result of multidimensional institutional, economic and strategic superiority. Unlike the French and Portuguese companies, the British East India Company was a privately owned autonomous institution without direct political interference from the government. Britain's Royal Navy was the most powerful in both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, cutting off French supplies. The British were able to fight long-term wars without emptying the treasury because of Britain's stable constitutional government and a national debt market operated by the Bank of England (1694). Most importantly, Dupleix and the French devoted their energies to the relatively less fertile and war-torn areas of the Deccan, while the British captured 'Bengal', India's most wealthy and fertile province after Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764), whose abundant revenues provided them with the wealth and massive army needed to conquer the rest of India. Hence, all four statements A, B, C and D are completely true.