Transcript Document
Justifications for Imperialism Notice how this piece of “leading scientific evidence” from 1857 clearly separates black people from white people as two different species British Imperialism in India The Mughal Empire Reached it’s height in 1708 Contained Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs Granted exclusive trading rights to the British in exchange for exotic and rare goods Decline of the Mughals began with religious conflict between Muslims and Hindus and resulted in infighting and a divided empire British East India Company • A British company that basically ran India • One of a number of “east India companies” vying for influence and trading rights in India • Gained control after a decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 – Played the Indians against each other • In 1670 King Charles II gave the company the right: to autonomous territorial acquisitions, to mint money, to command fortresses and troops and form alliances, to make war and peace, and to exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the acquired areas • Heavily involved in the tea trade British Drug Dealers • Opium was grown in India • British wanted tea • Chinese didn’t want anything the British had to offer – British had to pay _______ CASH for tea • The British used their control of India to traffic (sell) opium into China – This offset the imbalance that the tea trade created • This made the Chinese mad – The conflict over the smuggling of opium led to 2 opium wars • A result of this conflict was Britain getting of a portion of Hong Kong Sepoy Mutiny or War of Independence of 1857 • Divide and conquer strategy had worked well for the British – Religious differences offered an easy way to divide Hindus from Muslims • Uniting factor – Racist, superior and paternalistic attitudes of the British in India gave the Indians something to unite against • East India Company used Sepoy: Indian soldiers • New Gunpowder cartridges were rumored to be sealed with sacred cow/pig fat • Sepoy rebelled against East India Company rule – Resulted in the end of 100 years of company rule in India • British government took direct control to protect their valuable trading empire and ruled from 1858 to 1947 – Known as the Raj, British rule was eventually undermined by Mohandas K. Gandhi's passive resistance movement