NDA (II) 2022 General Ability Test · Question 55 of 150

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. The English East India Company received its royal charter from Elizabeth I in 1600. The Dutch East India Company, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC, was established on 20 March 1602, when the States General of the Netherlands amalgamated several existing ventures into one monopoly company. The Dutch company therefore came two years after the English one, so statement 1 is correct. Statement 2 is one of the fixed dates of Indian history — Vasco da Gama's Portuguese fleet reached Calicut on the Malabar coast in 1498, opening the sea route from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope. Both statements stand, so the answer is (c).

• (a)1 only — This rejects statement 2, but Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut in 1498 is well established and is the date from which the era of European sea trade with India is conventionally counted.
• (b)2 only — This rejects statement 1, usually because the Dutch are remembered as establishing themselves in India before the English did. The companies run the other way round — English charter in 1600, Dutch company in 1602.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are correct, so this option cannot hold. In a two-statement set, the 'neither' option is only right when you can positively fault both claims.

Europe reached India by sea in 1498 and then organised that trade through chartered joint-stock companies, each given a monopoly by its own state. The Portuguese came first as a crown enterprise, the English company was chartered in 1600, the Dutch company in 1602 and the French company in 1664. These charters are what turned voyages into permanent commercial establishments with forts, garrisons and treaties.

The trap is a genuine confusion between two different orderings. The order in which Europeans arrived and became powerful in India is not the same as the order in which their companies were founded. On the ground the Dutch were entrenched in the East Indies and on the Indian coast while the English were still struggling for a foothold, which makes 'Dutch before English' feel right. But by charter date the English company of 1600 precedes the Dutch company of 1602. Read the statement carefully — it says 'formation of the company', not 'arrival in India'.

• The English East India Company was chartered in 1600 by Elizabeth I.
• The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was established on 20 March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands.
• Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, opening the Cape route between Europe and India.
• The French East India Company was chartered in 1664 — the last of the major European companies to enter the India trade.

• Confusing the order in which Europeans arrived in India with the order in which their companies were founded.
• Dating Vasco da Gama's landfall to 1492, which is Columbus, or to 1487, which is Bartolomeu Dias at the Cape.

A two-statement true or false set that pairs a well-known date with a less obvious chronological comparison.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was established in the year

  • (a)1498
  • (b)1600
  • (c)1602
  • (d)1664

  Answer(c) 1602 — established on 20 March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Among the following European powers, which was the last to organise a chartered company for trade with India?

  • (a)Portuguese
  • (b)Dutch
  • (c)English
  • (d)French

  Answer(d) French — the French East India Company was chartered in 1664, after the English (1600) and the Dutch (1602).