Long ago when Britain was the most powerful nation still hunting for more power, the nation took its chance to gain more glory in a far away land overseas; India. During the 1600s Britain became interested in India for its precious raw materials and the fact that the British could market many of their products to the 300 million people of India to make big profit. In 1757 the British East India Company won the Battle of Plassey against the Indians and gained some power of India. Britain would soon decimate pieces of the culture and take over the whole nation of India. Despite the fact that Britain established an advanced government in India, improved infrastructure in the nation, and also increased life expectancies of the people of India by …show more content…
The British rulers of India helped settle 500 million diverse peoples with different religions all over India during their rulership, providing stronger communities held together by values of religion (Paragraph 6). However, the people of India were given little to no responsibility of themselves and their own nation (Document 1). Meaning the British also created a great divide of the native people and the British imperialists get to dictate what taxes and laws exist, all of which to only better the lives of themselves and did not pertain to the basic human needs for the people who actually lived in India. Paragraph 12 shows that the British did bring several different states of India into one unified nation to help establish an effective justice system, civil service, loyal army, and efficient police force to protect the people of India. On the other hand, document 2 shows that the Indians had no say in the taxes they had to pay to the British or how they spent their money as a nation. This was harmful to the people of India because many of the British taxes made for them was only so Britain could become more rich. The imperialists from far away never cared about the well-beings’ of the …show more content…
For example, Britain introduced the English language to the nation of India, expanding communications between them and the english (Paragraphs 10 and 16). More important, the British never really taught the people of India how to read or write. Evidence shows us that the literacy of the English language in India increased staggeringly of about 5 to 10 million people after the nation was awarded its independence (Document 5). This is important because the people of India had better literacy scores after Britain was no longer ruling; thus some social impacts the British brought were near pointless because they never really cared to help the Indians when it was needed. While Britain did protect the ancient buildings in India during their reign (Paragraph 17), they did not protect or prevent the massive famines the people of India faced when they were being forced to grow cash crops. As a result of the starvations 26 million Indians died altogether from 1875 to 1900 (Documents 6 and 7). This was problematic because the British could have prevented the famines and deaths but instead they were the cause of
The British improved and modernized India which formed their efficiency that they have today. They established railroads and bridges so people can travel thru their country easier. The British also ingrained a fair trading system between India and British. Some may claim that it was not fair because the Indian textiles were getting sold less and less. From 1790 and so on the sales of Indian textiles progressively declined (Doc. 6).
These taxes were a major blow to the Indian economy. Merchants and landowners alike were making a fraction of the money that they had been before the BEIC took over. This frustrated the people of India. They felt anger and resentment towards the British as a result of the BEIC destroying “their nationality,” viewing themselves now as “struggling for the independence of their country and the defense of their homes.” (Document 10)
They made many changes within the country; Dadabhai Naoroji praises them about in his speech to the London audience in document 18.3. He refers to how the British abolished the religious practice of Sati(when a widow burns herself at her husband's funeral), educated both male and female, gave freedom of rights, and the security of life and prosperity to the people of India. When looking from a British point of view these seem like modern improvements but, actually these were the norms and culture of India. Which Britain had no right to impair. I oppose the harmful, unequal practices, although I believe that India was developed enough to abolish the practices themselve.
The rule of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947 greatly affected the net economic status of India. Trade was the sole reason for the British East India company arrival in India, for the Industrial Revolution in Britain led to the increase in demand for raw materials in factories and India served as an efficient platform. However, as their influence started expanding, they created new policies and began to colonize India not only economically, but also socially and politically. Historians continue to debate whether the long-term impact of British rule in India was accelerating the economy or declining it. That being said, my paper is going to be assessing the positive and negative impacts on the Indian economy
For example, if there was a drought or the crops didn't grow properly a farmer's life would be in great danger. This is because, when a farmer would only grow one crop it reduced food production which caused famines (Beck). During the height of imperialism deaths from famine increased by 8.3 million.(doc 4) The British had a great deal of power India but they had the most control over India's economy. The British took Indians resources and controlled their government, preventing India from operating on its own.(Beck)(doc 5)Part of controlling the government meant that the Indian people were not represented and did not have a say(doc 9).
Other issue, Britain support for Indian attacks on frontier settlements, also
The benefit of the Britain colonizing India was that trade of cotton, silk, indigo, and tea grew quickly. As trade grew so did the powers of the companies that were doing the trading. They secured a foothold in India and built trading post around the borders of the country. At first, the Indians that approved of British rule did so because of the trade, money was also being made. Jobs came along when the British company 's hired Indians to be soldiers who were known as Sepoy 's. Even though they were paid very low, it still was better than no job at all, and they were relied on to enforce company policies.
Imperialism In the 19th and 20th centuries, various powerful nations sent colonizers to dominate weaker nations and expand their influence. This domination is called imperialism, which is still practiced today in moderation. Among the many countries shaped by imperialism were India and China. These two large countries were both colonized by the British who were one of the greatest imperialistic powers at that time.
The British however did not realize that by utilizing India’s resources, they were supporting India’s economy enough for them to no longer depend on Great Britain. As shown in document 1, this made it almost impossible for India to accomplish any of their goals because England did not trust them enough to support them. This can be reflected in Indian politician, Dadabhai Naoroji’s statement, “Our great misfortune is that you do not know our wants.” However Cecil John Rhodes, like many other Englishman at this time, believed that “[English] are the finest race in the world and the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.”
Throughout the rule of the British in India, Europeans mainly controlled the government and police force, leaving the Indians with no voice and no protection. According to Dr. Lalvani, the British established an efficient administration over 500 million people. While this was beneficial to the British, the Indians had no control over the taxations and laws that affected them (Doc. #2). Since all of these laws and taxes were targeted to help the British, India’s freedom was stolen, as shown in the Rowlatt Act, a law that allowed the government to imprison people without trial.
Shown in document 6, he complained to the English that “You have given us no responsibility in our own government.” Lot of money was taken from the people to support the British government. Later India became dependant on Britain's goods coming in. The British encouraged farmers to grow cash crops causing famine in the country, many starved to death. Also racism was a huge deal because the British saw them as a lower class and having a different culture caused the people to be treated like slaves.
From 1850 to 1914, industrialized European nations used imperialism to seize colonies, dominate the local governments and economies in Africa and Asia. Their motives were both economical and ideological. In Asia, India was dubbed as the “ Jewel of the Crown”, due to the of the amount of wealth Britain obtained from this region. British East India Company established trading rights during the Mughal empire between Britain and India in the 1600s. The company controlled India without much interference from Britain.
The British worked to help preserve the environment and animals (#17).The British destroyed forests and the soil that they farmed on. After a few years the soil was degraded and the quality went down (Doc 7). This shows how even though they worked to preserve the environment, the British were really just tearing up India’s land to farm for their own crops and then ship them back to Britain. The British built 10,000 tracks and 136,000 bridges (#14). They built railways to secure their own British rule in India (#13).Even though they built lots of bridges and railroads for transportation most of it was mainly built to benefit themselves and make sure they kept their rule in
Uprisings by Indians in 1857 against the British East India company then caused the British government to bring troops to India and eventually they took control and ruled India from 1858 to 1947. India was divided into 11 provinces and 250 districts. These two empires changed the development of India, but the British Empire changed the Indian Economy in a way that made the Indians more dependent than they were under the Mughal Empire. At the same time, both empires continued to develop agriculture through well developed irrigation systems and irrigation canals. The British Empire changed the Indian Economy in a way that made the Indians more dependent than they were under the Mughal Empire.
The British first came to India not only because of the abundance of raw materials, but also the mass potential they seen. The British East India Company, took advantage of the collapsing Mughal Empire, and broke away from their control to flourished their company. In 1857 the Sepoy army rebelled and that caused the British to come in guns blazing and take over the country. The British rule demolished India through, taxation on anything made in India, and the exportation of raw materials, which caused a plentiful amount of famine,and throughout all of this, the British kept most on India uneducated, and those they did educate, most were forced to become interpreters for the benefits it would make in taking over India and keeping the British in control. Political Paragraph British imperialism had a negative effect on the politics of India because of the corrupt justice system, and the utter lack of respect that killed masses of innocent people.