Transcript india_under_british_rule

India Under British Rule
The Diversity of India
The Jewel in the Crown
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300 million Indians
Huge market for finished
goods
Extraction of natural
resources, raw materials
and cash crops
Tea, opium, cotton, jute
Indian economy
restricted, forced to buy
British goods, prevented
from industrializing
Early British Involvement
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Interest began in the 1600’s with
trading posts in Bombay, Madras
and Calcutta
British East India Company
cooperated with the ruling Mughal
Dynasty
1707 Dynasty began to collapse,
British took advantage of the
situation
BEIC exerted greater control over
more territory
Indian rulers defeated and
subjegated
Indirect rule through BEIC
Own army led by British officers
Indian soldiers - Sepoys
Commodities
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Cotton production in India
existed for hundreds of years
Indian cotton cloth initially
competed with British cloth
Britain imposed taxes on
Indian cloth then through the
BEIC exerted control over
cotton production
By 1830’s India imported more
cotton goods than exported
Producer of raw cotton, sent to
British factories for processing
Home grown industry and
cotton cloth production in
India decreased
Commodities
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1773 BEIC assumed a
monopoly in Opium trade
in Bengal
Opium production
increased after monopoly
was abolished (1830’s)
Major market was China
– despite being illegal in
China – trade conducted
offshore
1799 900 tons imported
1838 1400 tons imported
British Rule Expands
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1857-58: Sepoy Rebellion
(Indian soldiers rebelled in
response to a rumor that
ammunition cartridges were
sealed with beef and pork fat)
Widespread fighting in
Northern India – extensive for
over one year
British government took direct
control (away from BEIC)
India entered new phase of
direct rule as a colony
Known as the RAJ
Impact of British Rule
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Britain built extensive
railroad (world’s 3rd
largest)
India became a profitable
colony
Modern roads, telephone,
telegraph, dams, bridges,
irrigation
Sanitation and hospitals
British system of
government
Schools and literacy
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British maintained much
political and economic
power – Indian
participation in these
areas restricted
Cash crops (plantation
crops) at the expense of
food production
Social Darwinism and
Paternalism practiced
widely
Threats to tradition and
culture
The Growth of Nationalism
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Late 19th century
Move for self-rule (following
other British possessions)
Push for greater modernization
and government power to
Indians
Indian National Congress
(1885)
Indian Muslim League (1906)
Both demanded Independence
Independence and Nationalist
movements set aside during
WWI and finally achieved in
1947
India and Pakistan are
partitioned
Indian Nationalist Leaders