Chapter 25: The New Imperialism

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Chapter 25 The New Imperialism

• Section 4 The British Take Over India

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• Setting the Scene
• Ranjit Singh ruled the large Sikh empire in
  northwestern India during the early 1800s. He had
  cordial dealings with the British but saw only
  too well where their ambitions were headed. One
  day, he was looking at a map of India on which
  British-held lands were shaded red. "All will one
  day become red!" he predicted. Not long after
  Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the British
  conquered the Sikh empire. They added its 100,000
  square miles to their steadily growing lands. As
  Singh had forecast, India was falling under
  British control.

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• By the mid-1800s, the British East India Company
  gained control of 3/5ths India

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• They gained control by exploiting the diverse
  peoples and cultures of India

India is the seventh largest country in the world
- approximately 3,287,000 sq km (1,281,930 sq
mi) 18 languages and 800 dialects Hindu,
Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain religions
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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• The main goal was to make money Britain also
  introduced western education, religion, and law

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• They worked to end slavery and the caste system,
  and outlawed sati (suttee)

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• Problems began when sepoys were forced to serve
  anywhere in the Empire, and when a new law
  allowed Hindu widows to remarry

Sepoys of the Bombay, Bengal and Madras armies
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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• 1857 - new rifles using cartridges greased with
  animal fat were issued the sepoys refused to use
  them

A section through the .577" Enfield-Pritchett
cartridge. The infantryman would tear off the top
of the paper cartridge with his teeth and pour
the gunpowder inside down the gun barrel.
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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• When the Sepoys were disciplined, it set off the
  Sepoy Rebellion

An 1859 lithograph depicts the storming of Delhi
in 1857 by rebelling Indian sepoys, beginning the
Sepoy Rebellion
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An Execution in British India---November 17, 1888
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II. British Colonial Rule

• 1858 - Parliament ended the East India Company,
  set up colonial rule, and imported western
  technology and culture

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II. British Colonial Rule

• 1869 - The Suez Canal opened and British trade
  with India increased greatly

1869 Opening of the Suez Canal
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II. British Colonial Rule

• India was a source of raw materials and a market
  for factory goods farmers were forced to grow
  cash crops

Indian jute
Indian cotton
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II. British Colonial Rule

• Improvements lead to rapid population growth in
  the late 1800s famines swept India

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II. British Colonial Rule

• British rule brought peace, order and justice,
  and improved travel and communication

A French artist's rendering of Calcutta in the
19th century
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III. Different Views on Culture

• Some Indians urged following a western model of
  progress others felt the answer to change lay
  within their own culture

Indian Muslims praying
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III. Different Views on Culture

• Ram Mohun Roy, the founder of Indian nationalism,
  set up educational societies to revive pride in
  Indian culture

Ram Mohan Roy 1772 1833
Statue of Raja Rammohun Roy outside the Bristol
Cathedral
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III. Different Views on Culture

• A few British admired Indian culture but most
  British viewed India with contempt

In an essay on whether Indians should be taught
in English or their native languages, English
historian Thomas Macaulay wrote that A single
shelf of a good European library is worththe
whole native literature of India and Arabia."
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IV. Indian Nationalism

• During British rule, a class of western-educated
  Indians emerged who spearheaded a nationalist
  movement

In 1835, Thomas Macaulay articulated the goals of
British colonial imperialism most succinctly "We
must do our best to form a class who may be
interpreters between us and the millions whom we
govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and
colour, but English in taste, in opinions, words
and intellect." 
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IV. Indian Nationalism

• 1885 - nationalist organized the Indian National
  Congress for self-rule and western-style
  modernization

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IV. Indian Nationalism

• At first, Muslims and Hindus worked together but
  in 1906 Muslims formed the Muslim League to
  pursue a separate Muslim state

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Great Muslim Leader. The
British Parliament passed the Indian Independence
Act and the independent state of Pakistan came
into existence on 14th August, 1947.
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• Looking Ahead
• By the early 1900s, protests and resistance to
  British rule increased. Some Indian nationalists
  urged that Indian languages and cultures be
  restored. More and more Indians demanded not
  simply self-rule but complete independence. Their
  goal finally would be achieved in 1947, but only
  after a long struggle against the British and a
  nightmare of bloody conflict between Hindus and
  Muslims.