British Imperialism In India

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British Imperialism In India
Background Notes

• The British East India Company set up trading
  posts at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta.
• At first, India's ruling Mughal Dynasty kept
  European traders under control. By 1707, however,
  the Mughal Empire was collapsing.
• Dozens of small states, each headed by a ruler or
  maharajah, broke away from Mughal control.

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Robert Clive
Background Notes
Robert Clive was a British soldier who
established the military and political supremacy
of the East India Company in Southern India and
Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and
the wealth that followed, for the British crown.
Clive had led an army from Madras and in 1758
defeated Sirajudaula at the "Battle of Plassey"
and became the governor of Bengal under the
banner of the East India Company. From there he
was able to launch successful military campaigns
against the French and stop the expansion of the
Dutch.
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British East India Company

• During the 1700s and 1800s the East India
  Company slowly took control of India
• As the Mughal Empire grew weak, the East India
  Company grew in economic and political strength
  and began to build its own military force
• The military force mainly consisted of sepoys,
  Indian soldiers, led by British commanders

Background Notes
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The British
Background Notes

• The British wanted many of the raw materials
  India produced - cotton, indigo, jute (burlap),
  spices, sugar, and tea
• These material were shipped to Britain for use in
  British factories finished products were then
  shipped around the world to British colonies
• There were some advantages of the British
  invasion railroads, education, hospitals,
  common language,
• There were disadvantages too low wages, few
  rights, no say in government

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The Sepoys
Background Notes

• Ninety-six percent of the company's of army of
  300,000 men in India were native to India.
• British believed they were superior and looked
  down upon their dark-skinned compatriots.
• In the military, Sepoys could not be promoted to
  high ranks and the pay was miserable.
• British did not respect Indian cultural or
  religious traditions and beliefs.
• The controversy over the use of the Enfield
  rifle

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The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857
In 1857, new cartridges were issued to Indian
troops of the British East Indian Army. The
cartridges were rumored to have been greased with
cow or pig grease as such, they were forbidden
to the Indian troops because of their religious
beliefs. Moslems believe that pigs are unholy,
and Hindus believe that it is unholy to kill a
cow. The cartridges of this time required a
soldier to tear open the cartridge with his
teeth, and pour the powder and bullet down the
barrel of the gun. This process would have caused
the Sepoys to get soul polluting grease directly
into their bodies.
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After refusing to use the new cartrdiges, a whole
regiment of Sepoy troops were imprisoned by the
British. Other Sepoys attempted to free these
prisoners and it snowballed into a revolt across
all of northern India. There were many massacres
where hundreds of Europeans were killed by Sepoys
who were bent on revenge and on kicking the
British out of India.
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Background Notes
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Sepoy Rebellion

• The British suppressed the rebellion and
  abolished the British East India Company
• India became a British colony
• In 1877 Queen Victoria took the title Empress of
  India
• India would now be controlled directly by the
  Crown of England, and not a trading company
  supported by England

Background Notes
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The Results of the Sepoy Rebellion
The mutiny marked a turning point in Indian
history. As a result of the mutiny, in 1858 the
British government took direct command of India.
The part of India that was under direct British
rule was called the Raj. The term Raj referred to
British rule over India from 1757 until 1914.
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Treatment Of Indian Soldiers After The Sepoy
Mutiny
Tie them to a cannon, and fire the cannon.
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Social changes in India during the British
presence.Some good, some not so good
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British East India Company
Document 1
The Britsh East India Company ruled India with
little interference from the British government.
The company even had its own army, led by British
officers and staffed by sepoys, or Indian
soldiers. Most of the company's troops were
Hindus or Muslims. About one in six was British.
Yet, only the British could be commissioned
officers no Indian could reach a higher rank
than that of petty officer.
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Economic Restrictions
The British held much of the political and
economic power. British policies called for India
to produce raw materials for British
manufacturing and to buy British manufactured
goods. In addition, Indian competition with
British goods was prohibited. For example,
India's own handloom textile industry was almost
put out of business by British textiles. Cheap
cloth and ready-made clothes from England flooded
the Indian market and drove out local producers.
To pay for British imports, Indians had to raise
cash crops such as tea, pepper, coffee, and
cotton. As Indian farmers grew less food, famines
became frequent and widespread.
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Economic Restrictions
Also, under the imperial control of the East
India Company, an increasing number of small
Indian states were forced to pay dues to the
Company for military protection. The lessening
of Company profits and a need to recoup debts
generated by military efforts, produced a need
for higher revenues. Peasant landowners, required
to pay their taxes in cash, increasingly had to
turn to moneylenders who seized much of this land
for nonpayment of loans.
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Advancements In Transportation
Under the rule of the British, the laying of the
world's third largest railroad network was
accomplished. The railroads allowed the British
to transport raw materials from the interior to
the ports and manufactured goods back again. The
majority of the raw materials were agricultural
products produced on plantations. Plantation
crops included tea, indigo, coffee, cotton, and
jute. Another crop was opium. The British shipped
opium to China and exchanged it for tea, which
they then sold in England.
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The railroads also allowed India to develop a
modern economy and brought unity to connected
regions. Along with the railroads, a modern road
network, telephone, and telegraph lines, dams,
bridges, and irrigation canals enabled India to
modernize.
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Social Changes
Britain introduced changes that affected Indian
society. Improved health care and sanitary
conditions led to population growth. The British
set up schools and colleges to educate
higher-caste Indians. The course of study
stressed English language and culture.
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Ritual of Sati
Sati (Su-thi , a.k.a. suttee) is the traditional
Hindu practice of a widow throwing herself on her
husband's funeral pyre. Sati was prevalent among
certain sects of the society in ancient India,
who either took the vow or deemed it a great
honor to die on the funeral pyres of their
husbands.
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Child Marriages
In India during the 1860s, marriage meant girls
getting married below 8 or 9 years old. It wasnt
until 1880 that child marriage as a problem
became a public issue in India and examples of
young wives being killed and or raped by their
husbands brought the tradition to an end.