Who, among the following Europeans, was the last to come to pre-independence India as traders?

Key Fact(s)

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter Indian trade after Vasco da Gama’s arrival in 1498, followed by the Dutch in the early seventeenth century with the formation of the VOC (1602). The English entered soon after, establishing their first factory at Surat in 1613.

The French came comparatively later, with the creation of the French East India Company in 1664 under Louis XIV. Thus, in the chronological sequence of European trading powers entering India, the French were the last. This late entry partly explains their weaker commercial base compared to the English and Dutch.