OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE&

A VIEW ON ITS ECONOMIC THINKERS

The empire which known for mercantilism, its Imperialism. The Sun Never Set empire.

The Power Hungry Empire which took down the most powerful empires, made them as colonies and looted their resources to fuel its Industrial Revolution.

In turn dumped the colonies with its finished goods and there by breaking the backbone of the nations by hurting its Native Industry. The Empire which defined the quote

“Flag Follows the Trade” & “Trade Follows the Trade”The Empire which is known for pondering the wealth of most parts of the world.

Britain’s known for its rich blend of art and science, and also for its strong Economy. Due to which world has seen some renounced Economists such as Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, John Stuart Mill etc. Presence of such brilliant minds helped Britain to form a firm fundamental base and knowledge in the development of Economics.

And also the up roaring Industrial Revolution, its constant zeal in finding new places to trade led the empire grow firmly.

Every nation has its own Economic Thought and its own perception of things. The present study attempts to have a glance on the British empire, its economic thought and its impact on the Indian Economy.

Background and History :

The history of British economy can be traced back from 1700. Sincethen the economy has grown in several different ways which has led tothe prosperity of the nation and worldwide.

As said earlier the thoughts of Mercantilism and Imperialism prevailed giving you a glance on the thinkers of economics of the British.

John Locke :

John Locke (1632–1704) was born near Bristol, and educated in London and Oxford. social contract theory. Locke believed that people contracted into society, which was bound to protect their property rights. When people combined their labor with their surroundings, that created property rights

“Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money (1691)”arguing that the "price of any commodity rises or falls, by the proportion of the number of buyers and sellers", a rule which "holds universally in all things that are to be bought and sold.

Adam Smith: (1723-1790)

He is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

(1776).The father of Modern Economics who is known for his Invisible hand Theory, Laissez faire Economic Policies and who strongly argued against mercantilism and became the father of Modern Free Trade.

David Ricardo: (1772-1823)

Known for his famous theories “Theory of Rent” Law of Diminishing Returns Law of Comparative Costs (Comparative Advantage)

Writings include the “Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock (1815)”

John Maynard Keynes

General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

Keynes advocated increased government expenditures and lower taxes to stimulate demand and pull the global economy out of the Depression. Aggregate Demand

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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

British East India Company• During the 1700’s and 1800’s 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

British East India

CompanyDocument #1

The British 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.

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.

• 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.

EAST INDIA COMPANY: founded in 1600 with an initial capital of 70,000 pounds. It built Fort St. George in Madras in 1639 ; bought the island of Bombay from King Charles II., and removed their factories to that place in 1687 ; and made their Bengal headquarters in Calcutta in 1700. The French had a settlement at Pondicherry, south of Madras, and

another at chandranagar, north of Calcutta.

KARNATIC WARS: First Karnatic war: in the first Karnatic war the French had

decidedly the advantage. They took Madras from the English, and they beat back the army of the Nawab of the Karnatic which came to retake the town. Madras was, however, restored to the British by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in I 748.

Second karnatic war: Robert clive captured arcot the capital of karnatic and finally it resulted in the ally of the British remained Nawab of the Karnatic, and the ally of the French remained Nizam of the Deccan.

Third karnatic war: The third Karnatic war ended in the complete destruction of the French power. Lally, the patriotic but impulsive leader of the French, besieged the fort of Madras, but failed to take it. He was then beaten by Eyre Coote in the battle of Wandewash in In 176 I, and the French settlement of Pondicherry was taken by the British after an obstinate defence. Pondicherry was restored by the Peace of Paris in 1763, but the power of the French in India had been irrevocably ex-tinguished. After I 763, the British had no European rivals in India.

Robert CliveRobert 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.

in 1765 he obtained from the Emperor of Delhi a charter making the East India Company the Dewan or administrators of that province. The East India Company thus obtained a legal status, and also formally took upon themselves the responsibility of administering the province which they had conquered eight years before. Lord Clive effected some other reforms in civil and military administration, and finally left India in 1767. The great Bengal famine: The people of Bengal were grievously oppressed under the dual government of the Nawab and the Company ; the revenues failed; and a serious famine carried off one-third of the population of Bengal in 1770-71.

WAR WITH HYDER ALI: In Madras the British authorities had got themselves involved in a war with Haidar Ali, the most capable military commander that India produced in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Haidar Ali devastated the Karnatic, and appeared within a few miles of Madras. The Council was struck with panic, and made peace with the terrible invader in 1769.

REGULATING ACT OF 1773

The British Parliament passed a measure called the Regulating Act of 1773 to improve the state of affairs in India. This Act gave a parliamentary title to the Company's administration in India, and created the post of a Governor-General for all the Company's possessions in that country. Warren Hastings, who was then Governor of Bengal, became the first Governor- General in I 7 74. LORD CORNWALLISPitt's India Act was passed on the 13th August 1784 In 1784, Lord Cornwallis appointed as the Governor-General. He was

involved in one war with only-with Tipu Sultan of Mysore; he captured the capital of the Sultan, and then made peace after annexing some of his territory and reduced his power. He founded the Civil Service of India.

Warren Hastings Lord Cornwallis Lord Teignmouth

John Shore Marquis of WellesleyLord Mornington

Wellesley fought a war with Tipu Sultan and won the war, Mysore was annexed with British India. During the Wellesley time, many Rajas gave their territory to British and rested with pension (Surat, Tanjore, Farakkabad, Oudh, Allahabad etc). In 1803, Wellesley initiated the war with Mahrattas, which was ended only in 1817; meanwhile, Cornwallis came back to India as again Governor-General and died in India shortly after his arrival. During this period Lord Minto, Lord Moira acted as Governor-General)

wellesly

The Sepoys• 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

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.

Muslims 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.

After refusing to use the new catrdiges, 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.

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

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.