In the first quarter of seventeenth century, in which of the following was/were the factory/factories of the English East India Company located?
- 1.Broach
- 2.Chicacole
- 3.Trichinopoly
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) 1 only
In its first decades the English East India Company traded mainly in western India: its first factory was at Surat (1608) and by 1619 it had factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach (Bharuch). In the south its early factories were at Masulipatam (1611) and Aramgaon (1626). Neither Chicacole nor Trichinopoly appears among them.
- ✓ 1. Broach (Bharuch), a port-town on the Narmada near Surat known for its cotton cloth, had an English factory: Sir Thomas Roe's embassy (1615–19) left the Company's first settlements confined to Surat, Agra, Ahmadabad and Broach, with the chief factor at Surat.
- ✗ 2. Chicacole (Srikakulam) is not among the Company's early factories: in the south its first factories were at Masulipatam (1611) and Aramgaon (1626), with Madras following in 1639.
- ✗ 3. Trichinopoly (Tiruchirappalli) is not among the Company's early factories; it was an inland rock-fort town, the scene of fighting between Muslim, Maratha, British and French troops from the 17th to the 19th century.
Remember · Early English factories: Surat (1608), Masulipatam (1611), Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach (by 1619), Aramgaon (1626), Madras (1639). Chicacole and Trichinopoly are not on the list.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 4 “1612–1690: The English East India Company establishes trading posts at Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta”
- IGNOU eGyanKosh, Unit 25: The European Trading Companies (Internet Archive copy) ↗ · reference work “By 1619, they succeded in establishing factories at Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach. … In the South, the English opened their first factory at Masulipatam in 1611. In 1626, another factory was opened at Aramgaon.”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Tiruchchirappalli ↗ · reference work “Its rock fortress temple, dominating the city, was the scene of bitter fighting between Muslim, Maratha , British, and French troops from the 17th to the 19th century.”
- A. B. Keith, A Constitutional History of India 1600–1935 (Methuen, 1936), copy hosted by the Delhi High Court e-library: the first English settlements under Sir Thomas Roe (1615–19) ↗ “the first settlements had to be confined to Surat, Agra, Ahmadabad, and Broach”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·