Question

it is said that the east India company maintain a fortified warehouse near Calcutta. what is the reason for that?

Answer 1

It maintained a fortified ware house near calcutta because at that period of time trade was done with the help of ships and sea routes . So in order to prevent the trade item from bieng damaged or stolen they maintained a fortified warehouse near Calcutta .

Answer 2

The English East India company was threatened by and large, by the Mughals and the Nawaabs of Bengal who never wanted the British to do anything more than business and in return pay hefty amount of interests to them. On the other hand there was a consistent rise of tension and hostility from the notorious Nawab Shaista Khan who wanted to keep the British in check and balance. The British was always looking to fortify factories and warehouses but was never allowed to do so by Ibrahim Khan, then governor general of Bengal. But in the late 16th century when the town of Hooghly was annexed by Shobha Singh, the britishers sought to defend their own factories but was again denied fortification explicitly.

The British then needed fortification desperately not only to assert their extraterrestrial status but to safeguard their commercial interest more than anything else. This is how factories around were fortified and the Fort William was set up later.