The Advancements Of India Over Time

Babur expanded his kingdom by attacking Afghanistan and conquering Kabul after 21 years of being in power. From that point, he crossed over the mountains into Hindustan and attacked the Dehli Sultanate, again defeating them and gaining their land. When he died in 1530 he had conquered all of Hindustan and controlled an empire that stretched out from the Deccan to Turkestan. These different strategies of conquering land helped the 2 empires rule throughout Asia and, in the Ottoman’s case, some parts of Europe also.

People, places, and/or things come and go, changing from one thing to another or none at all. In other cases, it is just not people, places, and/or things, it can also be generations or empires. Empires are known to adopt similar traditions or beliefs from other empires. In addition, some empires have similar, but slightly different laws and/or goals. Two of the empires that were similar, but different is many ways are the Ottoman and Mughal Empires.

The Mughal empire was founded by leader Zahir al-Din Muhammad, known as Babur (the tiger) in 1526. When he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan Lodi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat, where they used gunpowder for the first time in India. The Mughal Empire is known as a “gunpowder empire.” With the help of gunpowder weapons Babur took Delhi in 1526. When Babur died in 1530 he left a “loosely knit empire” he called Mughal. The word "Mughal" was the Persian term for "Mongol."

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

The Mughal Empire: Zahir al-Din, also known as Babur, was a Chagatai Turk that, unlike the Ottoman and Safavids, was just a soldier of fortune not fighting on behalf of Islam. He wanted to use his fortune to transform a glorious central Asian empire. Although, he did not succeed at that goal he then focused on India. Babur took Delhi in 1526. He did not like the land that he had conquered, it was a hot and humid climate but, Babur decided to stay. By the time of his death he had embraced most of the Indian subcontinent. The height of the Mughal power and influence came from Babur’s grandson Akbar. He gained power in Gujarat and Bengal, destroyed the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar in order to later expand in southern India. He was a thoughtful man who tolerated the religious differences in

In the case of politics in Africa and India, both were completely different because of how they were ruled by the European nations. In Africa the natives thought they had political power, but the reality was that all politics, and decisions were made by the European’s. The natives thought that the leaders, and chiefs were making the decisions, but the indirect governing style the Europeans were using on their territories was to do exactly this. They tricked the public to keep the peace and avoided any revolts or rebellion from taking place in the country. The same cannot be said about India though. In India the direct governing style was in place. This meaning that all the previous leaders, and officials were replaced by the European officials,

From: Romesh Dutt, The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule Englishmen…have given the people of India the greatest human blessing – peace. They have introduced Western education. This has brought an ancient and civilized nation in touch with modern thought, modern sciences and modern life. They have built an administration that is strong and efficient. They have framed wise laws and have established courts of justice.

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.

Turkish people known as the Mughals extended their authority and their empire to much of the subcontinent.

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 history of the nation of India is a long and interesting one but most westernizes lack any true understanding of it. Like any long standing culture there have been good and bad periods in their history but one period has been identified as the "Golden Age of India (Dehejia, 1993)." This period, which lasted over a hundred years (322 BCE 185 BCE), began when an exiled general by the name of Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the reigning king Dhana Nanda. Once Chandragupta Maurya had established his new government in the Eastern area of India he began expanding his power westward across Central and Western India and, in the process, the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism also began to spread throughout India (Avari, 2007).

Second, British India, which included today’s India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was a region so large that there were areas in which Britain exercised direct control over the subject population and others where it exerted indirect control. It is exceedingly difficult, therefore, to extrapolate from one experience to another. Although it is impossible to determine how India would have developed had England never established a dominating presence there, I find the results of British colonialism to have been a mixed bag for India: the negatives, however, far outweighed the positives.

Babur, founder of the Mughal empire, invaded India in the sixteenth century. By this time, native Hindu craftsmen were already highly skilled at weaving a variety of sheer and lightweight textiles. These fabrics were appropriate and practical for India’s hot and humid climate. However, the Mughal emperors were accustomed to heavy wool carpets woven in Persia and Turkestan. At first, they brought carpets with them or imported them. Later, under Akbar, schools were established to teach Hindu weavers the techniques of rug weaving. The native weavers modified the traditional Persian designs, adding elements from their own artistic heritage. The Mughal carpets show the varied results of this synthesis.

     India was an ancient civilization that had many rulers and empires. The first rulers were the Harappans. They ruled from 3500 BC through 1500 BC. The Aryans took over the Harappan empire around 1500 BC. Then, Alexander the Great came and took over control of India. After ruling for only a couple of years, he died. A few years later the Mauryan Empire took over. Next was the Ashoka. Finally, the Guptas ruled from 320 BC through 535 AD.     

India is the biggest democracy in the world, with a government type of federal republic. The country’s form of government mimics the United States with its federal structure. The federal government consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. In addition, India has adopted the a British style parliamentary system that allows for it its central government to have great power in relation to its states, according to US Department of State- Background Notes website (The Office of Electronic