El Dorado of the East: Bengal between 1757 and 1769

El Dorado is a state of mind. A mythical land of untold riches. Spanish Conquistadors plundered South America, in the sixteenth century, in search for it and East India Company (EIC) men did the same to Bengal in the eighteenth.

The catalyst was the defeat of Siraj ud Daula, in 1757, in the Battle of Plassey. As the authority of the Nawab of Bengal vaporised with the defeat, EIC men quickly transformed themselves into buccaneers and engaged in private trade (buying and selling for their own private profits, shortchanging their employer in the process) on an precedented scale. A select few, amassed huge fortunes through extortions, bribes and unfair trade terms and gained the sobriquet of ‘Nabob’, a pejorative term describing a person with ill gotten wealth.

For the Company Men, this happy state of affairs came to an end when their action precipitated the bankruptcy of their Company. In 1969, EIC could not pay their annual due of £400,000 to the British Treasury, and this allowed the British State to have a direct say in the running of the Company affairs. Private trade would still continue for some time thereafter but the party was over for the Company Men.