In Mysore, from the 1770s, Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan set out to beat the Company at its own game; to this end Haidar concentrated on acquiring an independent army, free from Company infl uence, and on improving centralized control over his fi scal system. Driving westwards, father and son sought to capture the rich spice gardens of Malabar, on which they planned to build a mercantilist empire of their own with an entrep ô t at Mangalore to rival anything in English possession. Haidar even considered developing a navy with which to take the sea back from European grasp. Tipu dreamed on an even grander scale, penning plans for the promotion of state - owned industries and direct control of the revenue system down to the level of the individual peasant household. In the early 1780s, an expansive Mysore came close to ejecting the Company from its southern base of Madras. A little later, in the Punjab, the redoubtable Ranjit Singh began to build a kingdom capable of keeping the English at bay for another two generations. - Buton Stein & David Arnoold ( Blackwell History of The World)
Posted on: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 08:42:02 +0000
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