<P> Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, captured Spanish and Portuguese ships with their cargoes enabled English voyagers to potentially travel the globe in search of riches . London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean . The aim was to deliver a decisive blow to the Spanish and Portuguese monopoly of Far Eastern Trade . Elizabeth granted her permission and on 10 April 1591 James Lancaster in the Edward Bonaventure with two other ships sailed from Torbay around the Cape of Good Hope to the Arabian Sea on one of the earliest English overseas Indian expeditions . Having sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula, they preyed on Spanish and Portuguese ships there before returning to England in 1594 . </P> <P> The biggest capture that galvanised English trade was the seizing of the great Portuguese Carrack Madre de Deus by Sir Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Cumberland at the Battle of Flores (1592). When she was brought in to Dartmouth she was the largest vessel that had been seen in England and her cargo consisted of chests filled with jewels, pearls, gold, silver coins, ambergris, cloth, tapestries, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, benjamin, red dye, cochineal and ebony . Equally valuable was the ship's rutter containing vital information on the China, India, and Japan trades . These riches aroused the English to engage in this opulent commerce . </P> <P> In 1596, three more English ships sailed east but were all lost at sea . A year later however saw the arrival of Ralph Fitch, an adventurer merchant who, along with his companions, had made a remarkable fifteen - year overland journey to Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, India and Southeast Asia . Fitch was then consulted on the Indian affairs and gave even more valuable information to Lancaster . </P> <P> On 22 September 1599, a group of merchants met and stated their intention "to venture in the pretended voyage to the East Indies (the which it may please the Lord to prosper), and the sums that they will adventure", committing £ 30,133 . Two days later, "the Adventurers" reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project . Although their first attempt had not been completely successful, they nonetheless sought the Queen's unofficial approval to continue . They bought ships for their venture and increased their capital to £ 68,373 . </P>

What led to introduction of english language in india