British Imperialism In India

“Englishmen.. have given the people of India the greatest human blessing - peace.” (Dutt). Merely coming to India in the 1600s to trade, the British East India Company established trading outposts. After ridding of French influence in India during the Seven Years’ War and having Indians mutiny against British rule, Britain gained full control of India. India has been under the imperialist control of the British until their independence in 1947. British imperialism caused some negative effects on India through poverty and persecution, but retained more of a positive impact due to its massive improvements in the modernization of India and the overall improvement of Indian civilization.

British imperialism had a negative impact on the politics and economics of india because the British were running the country for their own good and not for the good of the indians. In contrast the British had customs that ultimately ended up benefiting the Indians.

British imperialized India, by indirectly controlling India until the British thought the indians were of use for the British. When the British learned India could help them politically, economically, and socially . The British realized they couldn’t let the Indians overthrow their role so when riots started breaking out in India, Europe took harsher direct rule over India. India did not benefit from British imperialism either politically, economically, or socially.

Britain had taken an economic interest of India long ago in the 1600’s. India had quickly become the “Jewel of the Crown.” However as time went on, the British’s interest had developed India into a target for imperialism. In 1757, the British empire had won their battle and took control. The Englishmen had taken India’s power, caused them poverty, killed their environment, drove them into starvation, increased death rates, and wasted their time with ineffective education.

They controlled 900/960 governors of the police offices. They still got to use the ships and the railroads to transport goods (Lalvani). Giving them no say and created dependency, and they had no control over their taxations (Doc.#2). Even tho the British practically ruined and killed tons of people because of starvation & changing the laws the indians practically still have some perks left to use like the ships but they couldn’t eat or sell food to get money to food really affected them.

Dr. Lalvani claims that “Indians success, is largely due to British imperial rule.” The British didn't just establish the framework for the justice system for India but it established the civil service, loyal army and efficient police force (Document

When the British assumed control they unified India. The British however, made an unfair government that negatively impacting the politics of India. The government the British had created, gave the Indians little to no say in the decisions being made and mostly only benefit the British. The transition from colonial rule to independence also caused many deaths. Lalvani claims the British administration was “superbly efficient” (Lalvani).

Would you like if someone came into your house and start changing everything you do? Well, that is what the British did to India but on a bigger scale. The British thought that Indian had a lot of resources, which it did it was called “Jewel in the crown.” So, they came in and started changing their political, economic, and social ways of life. There were some positives and some negative to what happens when the British control India. This was a negative effect of India because they had no responsibility in their government, forced to grow cash crops, and learning the English language. Although I believe it was negative, some people believe it was a positive effect on India.

British Imperialism had a negative impact on the politics of India because the British took away control of the country for their benefit and enforced laws that discriminated against Indians. Lavani claims the British “established the framework for India’s justice system, civil service, loyal army, and efficient police force.” However, this framework was not intended for the Indians, but for the British. For example, 94% of government positions were held by Englishman (Doc. #2). These people had “no permanent interest in their well-being” and returned to England after “forty-five or fifty-five years of age with large pensions (Doc. #2).” This shows the British government used India as a source of wealth and controlled the people without

For Britain, there was barely a negative side to imperializing in India. British citizen did not change the way they went about their day at all. Prices of goods dropped which, of course made life easy, but nobody lost sleep over the colonization. Britain’s

Britain had a desire to have a more economic, political, and social influence over India. Even though the British never preserved a notable military existence in India, they were able to maintain political control. Many changes were made, which benefitted India, but there were also some changes, which contributed to its deterioration. Despite the negative impacts Britain left on India, imperialism is best understood as a strong country extending its authority, in order to increase its wealth, by bringing more of the world under its control, because Britain helped in the development of India from a nation-state, to a unified country, which is modernly the world’s largest democracy.

In 1885, nationalist leaders organized the Indian National Congress who called for greater democracy which they felt would bring more power to themselves. Other Indian nationalists, took a more radical, anti-British stand. I believe this is positive because I feel that the first instance of British resistance was the first step towards independence. Negative effects of the imperialistic rule in India were that there was a rapid population growth , hence, there was a strain on the food supply, especially since farmland was turned into cash crops instead of food. They cleared new farmlands which led to massive deforestation and other environmental destruction. Also, in the late 1800s terrible famines swept India. The railroads could not carry food to the suffering areas, but overall, millions of Indian peasants sank deeply into poverty.

The purpose of this historical inquiry is to analyze to what extent did British Imperialism have an effect on shaping modern India? The main source that will be discussed in this paper is the seventh book of the Spotlight on History Series called The British Raj, which explains the reasons behind the conflicts between the British Empire and Indian nationalism and assess the achievements of a memorable relationship.

In a quest to find raw materials, the British East India Company slowly started to take over India. Then in 1757 they won a decisive battle against India. A year later after the sepoy rebellion the British took direct control of India. Britain’s government of India resulted in massive change politically, economically, and socially. The British completely made a mess of the Indians calm government politically and economically, the British did give Indians a better life socially.

This period was one of major change in Indian life and culture. While the East