Economic Impact On India And The Civilization Of India

On the 31st of December in the year 1600, ‘The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’ received a Royal Charter to be England’s trading representative in India. By they early part of the 17th Century, Britain had already eclipsed Portuguese interests in India. The company bought in cotton, silk, indigo, opium, saltpeter and tea mainly in exchange for silver bullion. These were valuable commodities in Britain at that time. By 1720, 15% of British imports were from India.

The concern about the dependence on US cotton was focused upon three issues. The first issue was they feared that the US would siphon all of their own cotton in its own factories, the second issue was the British was worried about other continents being in competition with American cotton and the third issue was the most important issue was the increasing of slavery (Beckert, 121). The safety of slaves was a threat to the system, the war between slaves and their owners increased because the relationship between the two could turn at any time. During the time of chaos between the slaves and they owners they looked at India for their resources and began to evaluate how they were working in India. For India and Britain turned to state and demanded new laws about land tenure, more farms and agriculture knowledge, more state investments, and taxes on cultivation (Beckert, 127). In India they were lacking in exporting, this made Britain realize that the need for cotton was not the same between everyone but that cotton production was important to everyone on different levels. For this lack thereof caused India to search in different ways of cultivation without using exotic seeds or

India is a great example about how they were too weak. India is probably in the best position for trade, due to its central location between Africa and Asia. India was a great area for trade.Before the West’s power overtook India, it was small not unified. In document 5 a person can be seen weaving on their own. This is before they were introduced to industrial textile production. The British wanted to take control of India and combine with them to become bigger and stronger. Britain saw India as a market and is a source of raw materials they built roads and impressive railroads to transport factory made goods across the subcontinent. These roads and railroads are used to carry materials such as coal and cotton to coastal ports to transfer the factories in England. This description of India can relate to Document 6, in this document a railroad is seen being built under British control. Railroads are an example of modernization taking over this country.

British cotton textile industry grew into the worlds most productive; its railway network became the nation’s principal means of inland transportation and communication; and a new fleet of steam-powered ships enabled Britain to project its new productivity and power around the globe.

According to Dr. Lalvani, “Both Nations benefited from the trade links” (Paragraph #10). While this is true, Document 6 states that there was barely any woven cotton exported to Britain. The evidence shows that there was not a fair trading system between the countries, the British gaining an unfair amount the tradable resources, leading to more money. In addition to Dr. Lalvani, “British worked to preserve the environment and animals in India” (Paragraph #17). On the other hand, Document 7 illustrates that “Cash crops like indigo, cotton, and tobacco as they were very profitable crops for them but it totally degraded the farmland and made it unfit for growing other crops”( Doc # 7). With this evidence, it proves that the British used India’s land to gain revenue, while destroying the farmland in the process, making the Indian’s barely able to grow crops for themselves, leaving them starving and to

According to Dr. Lalvani, direct British rule led to more investments in building more roads, bridges, and railways. He also claims that both nations benefited by the trade routes and that the British help the Indians benefit from being imperialized because their railway system employs 1.6 million people. Although Dr. Lalvani makes the claim that the trains and railways are good and employs over a millions people even though the trains and railways were built in India to export all of India’s natural resources and beauty (doc 6). According to document 7, the food exports that were leaving for the British raised as India was dying of starvation. The British benefited more than the Indians because they had multiple increases in exports from India well the Indians were not allowed to sell any of the products plummeting their economy.

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.

Indians had hand woven cotton textiles to England (1790-1859) As the british had decreased the industrial revolution goes from 2,200 to 304 in a very short amount of time. 2,200 and 304 represent the India exports of hand woven fabrics in over 70 years (1790-1859). The british had rule over India and over the Environment. “In a few years the soil had suffered degradation which was compounded by the intensive farming of cash crops.” is said in document 6 (British rule of India and the Environment). Warming of reign was caused by the destruction of forests. The destruction of forests had happened within a few decades. as stated in document 6. “This was lead a to a drop in the water-table, followed by salinization of the

Perhaps England’s largest investment in the India was their vast railroad system, employing over 1.6 million workers; the most in the world. (Dr Lalvani) This is true but britain’s policies such as: the prohibiting of farmers to grow any crop that isn’t a cash crop or the policy to tax Indian weavers so heavily that it drove them out of business. (Document 3) This forced millions of people out of weaving jobs and farmers into bankruptcy because no one wanted their cash crops. This caused 58 million deaths because these workers couldn’t afford food (Document 6). 58 million deaths heavily out ways 1.6 million jobs. Another claim Dr Lalvani makes is is that both nations benefited from trade. However, the amount of hand woven goods being exported to england dropped to 2,200 in 1790 to zero in 1890. (Document 4) This number began falling during the industrial revolution after British imperialism, meaning the number of British goods being exported skyrocketed, replacing the Indian made goods. This out millions of people out of jobs, causing the economy to suffer while English men became

Great Brittan is seated on an island in the North Atlantic Ocean just west of the European mainland. Being that the nation is an island, this poses a challenge to the improvement of the country as it only has so many resources. To accommodate the insignificant amount of resources, Great Brittan established an empire. This empire stretched from the south pacific to the North Atlantic allowing for all of the raw material needs to be met (Doc. 1). One example is the cotton and textile industry. Starting around 1795, the British began importing cotton from colonies and dominations to meet the needs for textile industries. From the start, the amount imported only increased as the

During this time period, Japan and India had an increase in the machine-produced textile materials. A data chart gathered by British colonial authorities (Doc. 1) shows the production of cotton yarn and cloth in India. As the year increase, the hand spun yarn production rate has decreased and dropped 60 millions of pounds. While it shows the number of machine spun

(doc 6) when the British took out forests (clear cutting) it caused a whole domino effect temperature rose water table dropped and soil became too salty to grow with. In addition British created almost 10,000 miles of railroad within 100 years for quicker transportation (P15), although British actually used railroads to extract goods which then left India(doc3) between a rock and a  hard place… they were no longer making enough money some even began to

First, Europe’s relationship with India was of mutual prosperity and trade. Until the East India Company began to create a monopoly for itself in Indian trade, pushing out other European rivals, notably the French, followed it’s by conquest of the country, that phase was from 1600 to 1757 was not an unequal colonial relationship. The East India Company had a large interest in promoting the export of silks and cotton textiles from India which soon began to be noticed on British industrial

This paper provided an overview of the cotton and cotton related trading in the first and second industrial revolution. Through the lens of cotton industry, a clear picture of the development of global trading system and globalisation can be more clearly projected. Before the first industrial revolution, the trading system in the world was not that well-developed and complicated. The East India Companies which led by different colonial powers were the main actors on the trading system at that time, and India was the major exporter of cotton goods which Britain was one of the main cotton textile importers, since India have geographical advantages, the good quality raw cotton and the advanced textile production knowledge. However,

The colonization of India and the immense transfer of wealth that moved from the latter to Britain were vital to the success of the British Empire. In fact, the Viceroy of British India in 1894 called India “the pivot of our Empire …” I examine the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the subcontinent. Besides highlighting the fact that without cheap labor and raw materials from India, the modernization of Britain during this era would have been highly unlikely, I will show how colonial policy led to the privation and death of millions of natives. I conclude that while India undoubtedly benefited from British colonial rule, the negatives for the subject population far outweighed the positives.