Q. With reference to Indian history, consider the following statements:

1. The Dutch established their factories/warehouses on the east coast on lands granted to them by Gajapati rulers.
2. Alfonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate.
3. The English East India Company established a factory at Madras on a plot of land leased from a representative of the Vijayanagara empire.

Which of the statements given above are correct? (UPSC Prelims 2022)
Answer: 2 and 3 only
Notes: The correct answer is [B] 2 and 3 only. The early colonial history of India is marked by a complex interplay between European maritime powers and local Indian dynasties.

• Statement 1 (Incorrect): The Dutch established their first factory in Masulipatnam in 1605. The Gajapati rulers of Odisha had ceased to be a major power by the mid-16th century (following the death of Prataparudra Deva and the subsequent decline of the dynasty). The lands for Dutch factories on the east coast were typically granted by the Golconda Sultans or local Nayakas, not the Gajapatis.
• Statement 2 (Correct): In 1510, the Portuguese Governor Alfonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur (Ismail Adil Shah). This victory established the Portuguese as a dominant naval power in the Indian Ocean and made Goa the headquarters of their Estado da Índia.
• Statement 3 (Correct): In 1639, Francis Day of the English East India Company obtained a lease for a strip of land on the Coromandel Coast from the Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka, a subordinate of the Aravidu Dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire (specifically under Peda Venkata Raya). This site became Fort St. George and eventually the city of Madras (Chennai).

The shift in power from local regional kingdoms to European trading companies was often facilitated by such land grants and local political rivalries.