British Colonization Of India Essay

After the Industrial revolution started in Europe the Europeans needed raw material from other countries and from that came the Idea of Imperialism when one country takes over another. Although what the British were doing seemed to be benefiting India was actually doing the opposite. Many things that the Europeans did to India weather it was political, economic, or social the Europeans found ways to have those things benefit the British and very little or not at all to the Indian.

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.

British East India Company played a significant yet strange part in the Indian. It was, at its inception, a commercial venture in the history of The British Empire, which was established in the year 1600 in the subcontinent. The main reason for entering the subcontinent was trade, making money and importing spices from South Asia. It was the Portuguese who used all their skills and their navigational technology to enter this great area first, and start trade in the most profitable manner they could. East India Company entered as an early and old-fashioned venture, and conducted a separate business with their private stockholders. Their approach and their trade lasted for many years until year 1657 (Farrington 5), when they made their base

“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.

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

Lalvani states that “... both nations benefited from the trade links that were firmly established in the 17th century and continued under the East India Company” (paragraph #10). However, because of the trade links established, cheap English fabric flooded the market, decreasing exports of Indian cloth and leading to loss of work, poverty, starvation, and even death as a result (document #5 & #6). The trade links led to the destabilization of the Indian economy and rendered Indians dependent on the British, losing the self-sufficiency they had before imperialism. In paragraph 17, Lalvani claims “the British also worked to preserve the environment and animals of India”. In reality, the growth of cash crops ruined Indian soil, only allowing them to grow the crops the British wanted.

By around the year 1920, The British have taken control of more than 25 percent of the human population. India was one of those colonies. Originally used by the British East India Company for a source of Cotton, Indigo, and Tea, The British took complete Economic, Social, and Political control of India before the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. With many natural resources and a huge population of potential consumers, India had become the ¨Jewel in the Crown¨ of the British Empire. The administration of India that Britain created was superbly efficient, leading to the construction of massive infrastructure throughout all of India, and the education of some elite class Indians. On the other hand, British rule of India served the needs of the British

The British originally came in as a decent sized company in East India, but when the sepoys attacked that company, England sent their whole army and navy to get the sepoys under control, but while doing that they also took over all of India. Although economically and socially the Indians did benefit in some ways, the British established a massive infrastructure by controlling India and having a huge political, economic, and social impact on India that helped them more than it helped the Indians.

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

The British colonialism in India started in the 19th century and ended in 1947, after the Mughal Empire and the Aurangzeb (that controlled India at that time) collapsed. One of the reasons for colonizing India was trade, due to India’s great amount of raw materials. This colonization caused many negative and positive consequences. The British treatment to the Indians was derogatory, consequently, the Sepoy rebellion started.

The British possessed most of the economic and political power and established restrictions, which the Indians were not allowed to go against. However, India received several benefits from Britain’s rule, mainly in economy and education. The British rule in India assisted India in developing its capital for the future, as an independent country. Britain discovered several raw materials, which could easily be produced in India, which meant more wealth.

Imperialism is the domination of a weaker country by a stronger country. For instance Britain dominated India and China in the mid 1880s to the beginning of the 20th century. Imperialism has had both a positive and negative effects on the countries involved. Britain was imperialistic for many reasons, it could dominate because it had the technology and power to do so. They also needed land to acquire raw materials for growing markets.

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

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.