Andhra under Company Rule
From the Northern Circars grant (1765) to Crown transfer (1858).
APPSC angle
Lock four blocks: (1) Circars 1765–68, (2) Ceded Districts 1800, (3) Zamindari vs Ryotwari in Andhra, (4) Poligar wars, Rumbold scandal, Guntur famine 1832–33, Cotton's anicuts. Most Group-2 MCQs from this chapter test 'who ceded what, when, to whom, for what peshkash'.
Sir Thomas Rumbold, Governor of Madras (1778–80), took a huge personal bribe from Nizam Ali to reduce the Northern Circars peshkash. He was recalled, impeached in the Commons (1782) and became a Burke-era symbol of Company corruption in the Circars — a key backdrop to Pitt's India Act, 1784.
Northernmost; textile & saltpetre hub.
Godavari delta; later site of Cotton's anicut.
Carpet-weaving centre; between Godavari & Krishna.
Contained Masulipatnam port.
Fifth Circar; leased 1778, annexed 1788.
Diamond and cotton hinterland.
Later HQ of Munro's Ryotwari experiment.
Last Muslim principality; annexed to Company 1839.
Drought-prone; frequent famine district.
Nizam kept 6,000 Company sepoys under Subsidiary Alliance; revenue of the four districts financed the force.
Two failed monsoons + rigid Ryotwari collection
~2 lakh dead in Guntur alone
First Company famine relief works — Guntur canal, roads
Prompted Court of Directors' 1834 famine memo — precursor to later Famine Codes
1611
Masulipatnam factory
First English foothold on the Coromandel.
1682
Vizagapatnam factory
William Gyfford; textiles & pepper.
1687
Madras a Presidency
Andhra factories placed under Fort St. George.
1759
Battle of Chandurthi
Col. Francis Forde defeats the French; frees the Circars from French hold.
1765
Northern Circars — Firman
Shah Alam II's grant to Robert Clive after Buxar (1764).
1766
Treaty of Hyderabad
Nizam Ali cedes 4 Circars (Chicacole, Rajahmundry, Ellore, Mustafanagar) for peshkash of ₹9 lakh & military help.
1768
Confirmatory treaty
Company keeps Circars in perpetuity; pays fixed peshkash; drops military obligation.
1778
Guntur Circar leased
5th Circar leased to the Company from Basalat Jung.
1788
Guntur permanently annexed
Added to the Northern Circars.
1792
Chittoor / Baramahal ceded
By Tipu after Third Anglo-Mysore War.
1800
Ceded Districts / Datta Mandalalu
Nizam Ali cedes Cuddapah, Bellary, Kurnool, Anantapur under Subsidiary Alliance.
1801–05
Poligar Wars in Rayalaseema
Suppression of local poligars (palegallu); Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy's kin among affected chiefs.
1802
Permanent Settlement extended
Cornwallis's Zamindari model applied in the Northern Circars.
1820
Munro's Ryotwari
As Governor of Madras (1820–27), Thomas Munro rolls out Ryotwari across Ceded Districts.
1832–33
Guntur Famine (Nandana Karuvu)
≈ 2 lakh dead; one of the deadliest 19th-c. famines in Andhra.
1846
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy revolt
Rayalaseema chief hanged 22 Feb 1847 for anti-Company uprising.
1852
Dowleswaram Anicut
Sir Arthur Cotton's barrage across the Godavari — transforms delta agriculture.
1855
Prakasam / Krishna Anicut
Cotton's second great barrage across the Krishna at Vijayawada.
1858
Crown takes over
GoI Act 1858 ends Company rule; Andhra becomes part of the Madras Presidency directly under the Crown.
- 1759
Battle of Chandurthi (Forde vs French)
- 1765
Firman of Shah Alam II — Northern Circars
- 1766
Treaty of Hyderabad
- 1768
Confirmatory treaty
- 1788
Guntur permanently annexed
- 1800
Ceded Districts — Nizam Ali
- 1802
Permanent Settlement extended
- 1820
Ryotwari — Munro
- 1832–33
Guntur Famine
- 1846
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy revolt
- 1852
Dowleswaram anicut
- 1858
Crown Rule begins
Robert Clive
Secured the Northern Circars Firman, 1765
Sir Thomas Rumbold
Governor Madras 1778–80; impeached for peshkash scandal
Lord Cornwallis
Author of Permanent Settlement (1793); extended to Circars 1802
Sir Thomas Munro
Governor Madras 1820–27; father of Ryotwari in Andhra
Col. Francis Forde
Won Chandurthi 1759; freed the Circars from French
Sir Arthur Cotton
Delta engineer — Dowleswaram 1852, Krishna 1855
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy
1846 anti-Company revolt in Kurnool
William Bentinck
Governor-General 1828–35; oversaw Guntur famine relief
- Poligars were hereditary military chiefs left by Vijayanagara & the Nizam to police the countryside in return for a share of revenue.
- In Rayalaseema and southern Circars there were 80+ poligars controlling forts, sepoys and toll rights.
- After 1800 the Company saw them as revenue leakage and a security threat; Munro led the Poligar Wars of 1801–05.
- Poligar lands were converted into Ryotwari villages; many poligars became pensioned zamindars or joined Company sepoy regiments.
- The last big poligar-style revolt was Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy's 1846 rebellion in Kurnool — see Revolt of 1857 chapter.
- Deindustrialisation: hand-loom weavers of Masulipatnam, Pulicat, Peddapuram ruined by cheap Manchester textiles after 1813 charter.
- Commercial agriculture: shift to indigo (Guntur), cotton (Rayalaseema), tobacco (Guntur), groundnut (post-1860).
- Drain of wealth: revenue surplus of Circars & Ceded Districts remitted to Bengal & London.
- Famine intensification: Guntur famine (1832–33 · Nandana Karuvu) killed ~2 lakh; Bellary district lost 1/3 of population.
- Infrastructure: Cotton's Dowleswaram (1852) & Krishna (1855) anicuts turned deltas into rice bowls.
- New elites: dubashis (Chettis, Komatis), Company mirasidars, English-educated Niyogi Brahmins.
The English East India Company reached Masulipatnam in 1611 as a trader. Over 150 years it acquired ports (Vizag 1682, Madras 1639), fought the French through three Carnatic Wars (1746–63), and by 1759 held military supremacy on the Coromandel after Colonel Forde's victory at Chandurthi.
The turn from trader to territorial ruler happened in two great cessions. First, Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II granted the Northern Circars to the Company in 1765 after Buxar (1764); Nizam Nizam Ali confirmed the grant in the Treaty of Hyderabad (1766, revised 1768). Second, in 1800, the same Nizam ceded the four Rayalaseema districts — Cuddapah, Bellary, Kurnool, Anantapur — in return for a Subsidiary Alliance. Together these gave the Company nearly all of modern Andhra (except Telangana, which stayed under the Nizam).
The next 90 years were the Company's experimental laboratory: land-revenue systems, poligar suppression, canal-building, English education, and — eventually — the Rumbold peshkash scandal that hastened the fall of Warren Hastings' associates.
| System | Region | Introduced by | Year | Key feature | Merit / Demerit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent Settlement (Zamindari) | Northern Circars | Cornwallis (1793) → extended 1802 | 1802 | Zamindar = landlord; revenue fixed in perpetuity at ~10/11 share. | Predictable revenue; created absentee landlordism, ruined peasants. |
| Ryotwari | Ceded Districts (Rayalaseema) | Thomas Munro | 1820 | Direct settlement with each ryot; assessment every 30 years. | Recognised peasant rights; heavy assessment led to indebtedness. |
| Village / Mahalwari | Not used in Andhra | Holt Mackenzie (NW Provinces) | 1822 | Village community as unit. | For reference only. |
| Inam / Jagir | Scattered pockets | Nizam & Company grants | Various | Rent-free grants to temples, servicemen, brahmins. | Enquiry Commission 1859 resumed many inams. |
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1765 · Firman
Shah Alam II grants Northern Circars to the Company after Buxar.
1766 · Treaty of Hyderabad
Nizam Ali accepts the grant; Company pays ₹9 lakh peshkash + provides troops.
1768 · Revised treaty
Peshkash fixed; military-help clause dropped; Circars become Company territory in perpetuity.
1778 → 1788 · Guntur
Fifth Circar first leased, then annexed permanently.
1800 · Ceded Districts
Subsidiary Alliance forces Nizam Ali to cede the four Rayalaseema districts.
1801–05 · Poligar suppression
Local strongmen disarmed; land brought under direct Company assessment.
1802 → 1820 · Revenue systems
Zamindari in Circars (Cornwallis), Ryotwari in Rayalaseema (Munro).
Circars = coastal Andhra, from Shah Alam II & Nizam. Ceded = Rayalaseema, from Nizam Ali under Subsidiary Alliance.
Zamindari via Cornwallis in Circars. Ryotwari via Munro in Ceded Districts.
1832–33 = Guntur (Company era). 1876–78 = Madras/Rayalaseema (Crown era).
Rumbold (1778–80) = personal bribe on Circars peshkash. Subsidiary Alliance (1800) = formal treaty ceding Rayalaseema.
5-8-0-0 → C-M
17-65 Circars, 18-00 Ceded — then Cornwallis (Zamindari) & Munro (Ryotwari). Bookend with Cotton's anicut 1852.
- Northern Circars — 1765 Firman (Shah Alam II → Clive); 1766 & 1768 Treaties with Nizam Ali.
- Guntur (5th Circar) — leased 1778, annexed 1788.
- Ceded Districts (Datta Mandalalu) — 1800; Cuddapah, Bellary, Kurnool, Anantapur.
- Zamindari in Circars (1802); Ryotwari in Rayalaseema (Munro, 1820).
- Guntur Famine — Nandana Karuvu, 1832–33; ~2 lakh dead.
- Anicuts — Dowleswaram (Godavari) 1852, Krishna 1855 — Sir Arthur Cotton.
Order & year of each Andhra cession
MCQZamindari vs Ryotwari — region, architect, feature
MainsGuntur Famine 1832–33 — cause & mortality
MCQCotton's anicuts — Godavari 1852, Krishna 1855
FactRumbold scandal & Pitt's India Act link
Mains