Negative Effects Of British Imperialism

“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.

Britain took over India after a brief struggle with France; initially to aid in its economy; mainly its textiles. The plan was to have Indians harvest raw materials to ship back to Britain. Britain would therefore have cheap raw materials sent back to them; because India was mercantilist (could only trade with the mother country) they did not have much of a choice but to sell to Britain cheaply. Britain therefore always had a steady source of raw materials Britain would turn raw materials into finished products that it would ship back to India and sell to Indians. Prices for goods were low and Indians liked that, but also Britain had a steady source of income. The most useful Indian industry for Britain was its cotton industry; Britain often used Indian cotton for clothing. India made for a cheap way to assemble (cheap labor) and an easy way to get business.

Imperializing and colonizing the world, one by one, it lead the European empires to find India. When Queen Elizabeth I of Britain granted the British East India Company a monopoly within India, it lead the British East India Company to take control of trade in the 1600s. The British East India Company used their strong military might, bribery and extortion, instilling fear by using brutal practices to keep Indians and rivals in law. Creating the world's first transnational corporation, it was produced in such a cruel way, where the Indians were harshly punished if they disobeyed, which caused fear for them. But from this, it also created other negative impacts from which the British empire took rule in India. Eventually in 1858, Britain finally

British imperialism had a negative impact on the economy of India because they killed the environment and increased poverty greatly. Lalvani claims both nations benefited from the trading system the British established. Though in documents 7 and 8, it shows how the British forced the Indians to farm cash crops which left them without food and as the crops lost value, it also left them without any money. A great poverty spread over Indian from the cash crops and a tax on Indian fabric. These beautiful expensive fabrics Indians spent their whole lives creating lost their value rapidly after the British created a tax making it nearly impossible with the great poverty they were already in to make or buy the fabrics.

The British also had people inserted into local Indian affairs after the third Carnatic war this helped the British retain their power in India for years to come. It set the stage for the development of the British Raj in the nineteenth century. The Europeans also created a destabilized region and they created a new layer of authority in domestic politics at the same time. This was the long-term impacts of the European’s inserting themselves into

Until the Mughal Empire collapsed in 1707, India was a successful country. When the British formed a successful government developed an army for India, they used this power for their

After a period of political stability in United Kingdom, the government began colonizing all different areas of the world. Some places such as, the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa and southern Asia were all very common places for colonization not only just for United Kingdom but the rest of Europe. Beginning in the 1700’s the British started to gain economic relationships with India. The British East India Company set up a massive trading network and thrived off of an abundance of resources and highly demanded goods that they found in India. Indian cotton, silk, peppers, spices, and indigo were extremely successful in European trading markets. This success in the trading markets fueled English interest in India and led to expansion into mainland India. Weak Mughal rule allowed for the British East India company to gain more control and political power in their colonies. After a period of harsh, militaristic rule from the trading company, the sepoys fought back to re-establish Indian political control and to rid India of the British. Queen Victoria sent troops to fight the rebellion and successfully put it down. This led to more and more British politicians sent to India to rule and to encourage western education and religion. Series of nationalist movements occurred to help bring back Indian culture. These movements never caught on with Indian civilians until the mid to late 20th century. British rule left India in shambles and caused political instability after their

"During this period (early history of the British in India) in India, while the Europeans fought one another and the British intrigued among themselves for personal advantage, Mughals killed Mughals, Rajputs killed Rajputs, Mughals killed Rajputs, Rajputs killed Mughals, British killed Mughals and Rajputs, Mughals and Rajputs killed British, and starvation and taxation kept killing the farmers and laborers of India as usual." 1

British imperialism had a negative impact on the politics of India because of the unfair ruling/structure

The British also played a big part in the decline of the Mughal Empire and the economy of the Mughal Empire as well. When the British took over they established the East Indian Company. The british would force local Indian land owners to hand over their profits from the crops or season harvest. After the money traded hands the money would go straight to the East Indian Company officials. This caused many of the farmer to lose their land and almost ruined the local economy.

During the 16th and 17th centuries,it was a bad time. During the sixteenth century England was being called a backward country. But on the other hand, India was the richest countries on earth. They had a estimated $33,750 million. Later, in 1500 CE, it was $60,500 million. During 1700 CE, it grew even higher to $90,750 million. They we very high wealth because India was one of the major trading nations. To show how big it was it also has a monopoly on textiles and spices. Because the growth rates of both the countries show the vast gap between their economic growths. The hostile financial policies of the British like ruthless taxation, discouraging Indian industries like textile and ship building, trade restrictions, etc. significantly contributed to the downfall of the Indian economy. Such was the loot conducted by the British for most of their period in India. This, however, does not capture the exact picture of the sufferings of the then people. We can only imagine the poor conditions of the people for generations after

The British were heavily involved in the colonization of India but more so during their first years there which started at the beginning of the eighteenth century with the East India Trading Company. At first, the British were only part of India through this company and they gained complete control of India after the 1857 rebellion, the Great Rebellion, in which Britain became in complete control of India. Through the East India Trading Company, first receiving a grant when founded in 1600.1 This grant was given to them by the English which allowed them to trade with all of Asia thus almost doubling the areas of which to trade with. Soon the company became the main focal point by the British.

On the 15th of August, 1947, India awoke to freedom and democracy, when the British passed on the controls of ‘the brightest jewel in the crown’ (as India was lovingly called) to the Indian people. The Indian subcontinent has been invaded since time immemorial for the riches the land held. It is often said that trading with India and conquering it was a great deal to the Europeans. For the British to reign the country for so long, which became dominant primarily after several wars and diplomatic issues in Indian as well as Europe, was a source of pride. It established them as superior to the Dutch, French and Portuguese. However, if India indeed is a country of such abundance, and has been a free country for so long, why is it still counted amongst low income countries? In this paper, I make an attempt to evaluate how India’s economic policies and growth have changed since independence.

There were many countries that had ever been colonized in the world. India is one of these countries that affected by the Britain very much. From 16th century to 20th century, British colonialist began the aggression and expanding. England had ever governed many countries by using force methods . Absolutely, India became the target because of its widely nature products and lack of military power. The ancient country was suffering the colonial bearing. As English invade , many parts of India were changed such as culture, traditions and political structure. They also influenced Indians on language. In old days, they usually used Hindi, but now they almost use English. Some changes are positive while others are negative. Overall, in my

It is stated by the several scholars that British Government never interested to the industrial development of India. During the British period, the growth of industrial output was hindered due to the utmost poverty of the rural population of India. The large proportion of the middle-class population had a taste and choice of imported goods instead to indigenous products. The tariff protection provided by the British government was not enough to protect the industries because the government was neither interested in the establishment of industrial plants nor in the development of banks. Even during the period local industries had not given any preferences at the time of allotting contracts.