The Age of Imperialism:India

“The Jewel in the Crown”

Goal of Today

• We will look at the British reasons for colonizing India and how there were positive and negative aspects of the British rule.

European Interest in India

• Wanted spices from Asia, tea, jewels, and fabrics of silk and cotton

• Spices were used to preserve meats and flavor foods

• Interest grew from economic contact to direct political control

Role of the British East India Company

• Granted a charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 – monopoly on trade with India, China, and Southeast Asia (East Indies)

• Received permission from Mughals to trade in India as early as 1613

• Had own private army• Had power to sign treaties with Indian rulers

British Clash with French

• As Mughal rule weakened in the 18th century, Britain and France looked for allies among the warring Indian powers to strengthen their trade position

• Britain and France were at war in Europe and in North America

• 1757 – Battle of Plassey – Robert Clive beat Joseph Dupleix’s French forces

Reasons for British Success in India• Collapse of Mughal (Mogul) empire left things divided and

unorganized

• Divide and conquer = allied with small states against larger ones

– Dozens of languages

– British played rival princes against one another

• British superiority in military and naval power

• A series of able administrators & governors

The “Brightest Jewel”

• India was seen as:– The most valuable colony in the British empire– A valuable resource for raw materials– A market for British products (300 million people to buy things)

• British restricted the Indians from operating their own businesses• Plantation crops were also very valuable – tea, indigo, coffee, cotton,

jute & opium

British Opium Warehouse British Opium Warehouse in in

Patna, India Patna, India

Selling Patna Selling Patna Opium in ChinaOpium in China

Did the people in India like the British Presence?

• British rule was justified, in part, by the claims that the Indians required to be civilized, and that British rule would introduce in place of Indian anarchy a reliable system of justice, the rule of law, and the notion of 'fair play'.

• Certain Indian social or religious practices that the British found to be abhorrent were outlawed, such as sati in 1829, and an ethic of 'improvement' was said to dictate British social policies.

• In the 1840s and 1850s, more territories were absorbed into British India, either on the grounds that the native rulers were corrupt, inept, and notoriously indifferent about the welfare of their subjects, or that since the native ruler had failed to produce a biological male heir to the throne, the territory was bound to "lapse" into British India upon the death of the ruler.

A print from 1815 showing the Hindu religious custom of Sati

The Sepoy Mutiny & Its Effects

Sepoy = an Indian serving in the army of a European power

The Sepoy Mutiny & Its Effects• Causes - 1857

–New cartridges had been issued for guns greased with animal fat (sacrilege!) – offended both Hindus and Muslims

–Required sepoys to serve outside of India (went against rules for upper-caste Hindus)

Sepoy Mutiny• “Great Indian

Mutiny”– Began at army post

at Meerut– Sepoys killed every

European man, woman, and child they could

– Spread to other army posts

Sepoy Mutiny

• Took a year to suppress• British brutally subdued revolt• Indians called it the “first war of

independence” because it began the rise of Indian nationalism to overthrow the British

• British government decided to take over the British East India Company’s command of India

Execution of Sepoys:Execution of Sepoys:“The Devil’s Wind”“The Devil’s Wind”

Sepoy Mutiny

• India was divided into two main parts:– A British viceroy controlled three-

fifths of subcontinent– Native Indian rulers were allowed

control over one-third– In 1876, Queen Victoria was

made Empress of India

Effects of British Rule in India

Britain tries to replace Indian culture with western ways

British schools offer education

Indians treated as inferiors

New laws = justice for all classes

Effects of British Rule in India

Top jobs go to British

Indian resources taken by Britain

British-made goods replace local goods

Effects of British Rule in India

• New roads and railroads linked parts of India

• Telegraph and postal systems united people

Effects of British Rule in India

• Irrigation systems improve farming

• Farms grow cash crops rather than food crops so Indians go hungry

Effects of British Rule in India

Impact of ColonialismNegative Aspects:

• British held political and economic power

• British restricted Indian-owned industry (textiles)

• Emphasis on cash crops decreased ability for peasants to be self-sufficient famine

• British officials were very racist and tried to influence the culture

British Imperialism in India

• Lasted from 1600-1947• Mohandas K. Gandhi would

lead the bulk of the independence movement in the first half of the twentieth century