Vasco da Gama had led the first…

Vasco da Gama had led the first documented European expedition to India, sailing into Calicut on the southwest coast in 1498.

In 1510 the Portuguese had captured Goa, which has become the seat of their activity

Under Admiral Alfonso de Albuquerque, Portugal had successfully challenged Arab power in the Indian Ocean and dominated the sea routes for a century.

Jesuits had come to "convert, to converse, and to record" observations of India.

The Protestant countries of the Netherlands and England, upset by the Portuguese monopoly, form private trading companies at the turn of the seventeenth century to challenge the Portuguese.

Mughal officials permit  the new carriers of India's considerable export trade to establish trading posts (factories) in India.

The Dutch East India Company concentrates mainly on the spice trade from present-day Indonesia.

Britain's East India Company carries on trade with India.

The French East India Company also sets up factories.