By James Williams
William Carey left England on June 13, 1793, along with John Thomas and their wives and children, as missionaries to India. At that time, India was divided between various colonial powers. The Islamic Mughal Empire, which had previously ruled most of India, had steadily declined during the eighteenth century. During the decline, many European nations started to expand their territory in India from small trading centers to large territories. Denmark, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and even Austria had interests in India. At the same time, Hindu Marathas were expanding from the south. During the late 1700s, though, British rule had grown supreme.
Britain’s ventures in India began with the activities of the East India Company, the primary company in British India. By Carey’s time, British rule had extended to include nearly all of the land on the eastern coast of India, some land along the Malabar coast in southwestern India and more territory along the Ganges, the longest river in India. The Ganges, a sacred river to the followers of Hinduism, runs eastward across India into Bengal, a region in northeastern India. Here, the Ganges, which comes from the west, and the Brahmaputra, which flows from the north, combine and separate to form a large delta, which covers most of the region. Most of the region is now part of Bangladesh.
Carey and Thomas traveled on a Danish vessel to India. Before the completion of the Suez Canal—which connected the Mediterranean and the Red Sea—in 1869, it was necessary to sail all the way down the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and back up to India. The ship stopped in Balasore, one of the first British settlements in North India, as they traveled up the eastern shores of India. They finally landed in Calcutta on November 11. The entire journey took five long months.
Calcutta was the major trading center of Bengal at the time. Made the capital of British India in 1772, Calcutta was a bustling city and a major port on the Hooghly River, a branch on the western part of the Ganges delta. Today it is one of the largest cities in India and the capital of West Bengal, which is owned by India. When they arrived, Carey wanted to travel up the Hooghly. He was unable to do so, and he was forced to stay in Calcutta for five months. Because of the high prices of living in Calcutta, Carey and Thomas quickly found themselves penniless. Eventually, Carey moved eastward to a tiger-infested swampland near the Jamuna River, a river located in the central part of the Ganges delta. He built a hut and stayed there, cultivating some land and learning the major languages. The wet land was a haven for mosquitoes and other insects. Malaria was rampant and continues to plague the people today. Carey also had to keep a gun to fend off tigers. Carey later spoke about Bengal saying, “three-fifths of it are an uncultivated jungle abandoned to wild beasts and serpents."
Weather in India is very different from the weather in England. In India, there are 3 seasons – the hot season, the cool season and the monsoon season. In the hot season (March-June), the humidity is high, the temperatures are regularly over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and it rains often. Then, in the monsoon season (July-September), temperatures and humidity continue to be high, and rainfall is extremely heavy. Flooding was a common occurrence, especially in Bengal. Today Bangladesh continues to be stricken with horrible flooding during the monsoon season, which causes extraordinary damage. However, the river brings alluvial deposits (silt), which replenishes the soil, creating some of the most fertile ground in the world. After the monsoon season, there is the cool season (October-February), where the temperatures are pleasant and the rainfall lessens.
Later, Carey became an assistant in a factory that produced indigo along the Hooghly. Indigo was a major industry in Carey’s time. The blue dye extracted from the indigo plant was superior compared to woad, a flowering plant native to Europe and the only source of blue dye at the time. The woad industry in Europe collapsed, as more and more indigo came into Europe. Bengal, though, was not a major producer of indigo until the East India Company promoted the cultivation and production of indigo around the mid-1700’s. In the 19th century, Bengal was the world’s leading producer of indigo. As an indigo planter, he received a license from the East India Company to live there for five years. Afterwards, Carey ran another factory up the river, which later closed after a flood. This forced Carey to look for somewhere else to live.
On the 10th of January, in the year 1800, Mr. Carey and his family moved to Serampore, then a Danish settlement 14 miles north of Calcutta on the Hooghly River. Here, Carey started to translate the Bible into the local languages, which included Bengali, Sanskrit, Marathi, and Punjabi. The Serampore College was opened in 1821. Carey lived, worked and preached in Serampore until his death.
1 - Life of William Carey, Shoemaker & Missionary, George Smith C.I.E., LL.D
James Williams is a 14-year old homeschooled student from Vancouver, Washington. He recently won the National Geographic Bee.
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