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British Imperialism
In India
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.
Robert Clive
Background Notes
The British
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
Background Notes
The Sepoys
Background Notes
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.
Background Notes
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
Document #1
British East
India
Company
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.
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.
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.
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.
Railroads
Social Changes
Ritual of Sati
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.
Under British authority child
marriages were banned in India
entirely