The Age of Imperialism: India

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The Age of ImperialismIndia

• The Jewel in the Crown

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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.

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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

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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

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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 Dupleixs French forces

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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

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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

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British Opium Warehouse in Patna, India
Selling Patna Opium in China
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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.

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A print from 1815 showing the Hindu religious
custom of Sati
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The Sepoy Mutiny Its Effects
Sepoy an Indian serving in the army of a
European power
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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)

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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

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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 Companys command of India

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Execution of SepoysThe Devils Wind
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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

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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
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Effects of British Rule in India
Top jobs go to British Indian resources taken by
Britain British-made goods replace local goods
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Effects of British Rule in India

• New roads and railroads linked parts of India
• Telegraph and postal systems united people

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Effects of British Rule in India

• Irrigation systems improve farming
• Farms grow cash crops rather than food crops so
  Indians go hungry

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Effects of British Rule in India
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Impact of Colonialism

• Negative 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

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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