The Decline Of Colonial India

The British East India Company took over India because of all the resources that they had. when the company made the Indians join a military they rebelled and started firing back at the British and then the company “called” the British government and they came with big guns to take control and regain India for themselves. British imperialism has a negative impact on the politics of india because of the British courts and the government wasn't far toward the indians. British imperialism had a negative impact on the economy of India because the British did not help the environment and they made railroads to take away from the land. British imperialism had a positive impact on the economy of India because the British eliminated highway robberies,

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.

In 1615 the East India Company acquired its first territory in Bombay, India. The East India Company was a British company that traded for goods, services, and raw materials with India. What initially started as a trading company became a company ruling a country with Brittan’s backing. The company established an army in India comprised mostly of local citizens called Sepoys. With help from the British army and navy, the East India Company fought other European countries also occupying India for control of the region. By 1715 the EIC and Brittan had beaten back the French in the Battle of Plassey. This secured their dominance in India and a

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

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.

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.

With the new imperial movement came with a lot of inequality and destruction with the colonies. Droughts, famines, and diseases were at high in Asia, specially India and China, and could have been preventable. The British government and other imperial powers could have stepped in and helped prevent and or lessen the severity of in those areas, yet none of them received help. There was a surplus amounts of food available in those countries plus with the addition of railroads that could have easily help with fast transportation more effective and efficient to get food to these people, yet still nothing happened to help the ones in needs that were used to help fuel European economy, mainly Great Britain’s. As Davis says in his book, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World, “We are not dealing, in other words, with ‘lands of famines’ becalmed in stagnant backwaters of world history, but with the fate of tropical humanity at the precise moment (1870-1914) when its labor and products were being dynamically conscripted into a London-centered world economy. Millions died in the golden age of Liberal Capitalism; indeed, many were murdered….”. With this there was a dramatic rise in European wealth and low economic wealth in the colonies, especially the ones with natural disaster like India. The political and economic decisions made by these imperial powers were resulted in these disasters. Those with economic and political power rule and decided

Many positive things happened during, and as a result of, the British colonization of India. When the East India Company took control of India in 1612, they began modernizing, westernizing, and industrializing India. This westernization included giving women more rights, an attempt to eliminate the caste system and the loss of many of the more backward Hindu religious beliefs such as the domination of women by men and denying an entire class of people any rights. British occupation also did things long term for India. The modern technology and western customs allowed India to become a burgeoning regional superpower. The colonization of India was helpful for India because it went a long way to modernize India, westernized India in

The EIC first landed at Indian shores in 1608 at the time of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir. Many years of trading followed as the EIC made large amounts of money through lucrative deals with Indian businessmen. By 1744 the company was in a position to loan £1 million to England; however this was detrimental to relations for all; British people saw the Indians as underhand, corrupt people (as these were the only people they came into contact with) and the Indians saw themselves as being exploited. Men who travelled to India were seen as "fallen gentlemen", an image that was only broken years later. This showed a lack of trust even from the beginning of the British Indian relationship as it begun with corrupt dealings and exchanges.

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

In order to spread their roots on the soil of Gujarāt, the first trade centre of the East India Company by the British was opened in Surat in A. D. 1618. Later on, the British, reaping benefits out of the internal turmoil among the Gujarātīs, were successful to get the complete hold of Surat, a city on the banks of the Tāpi, in 1759 and Bharuch (Broach), a city on the banks of the Narmadā, in 1772. It is believed that ultimately the complete British rule was stabilized in Gujarāt due to the victory of Company at the battle of Kirkee (also known as Khadki) in 1818, however the end of the First World War in 1918 resulted into the birth of India as a complete British India. Being benefitted by their roots in Surat, the British succeeded enough to direct the famous trade and the shipping industry of Surat to their new capital, Bombay. Bombay got richly flourished due to the migrations of the adventurous souls like shippers, bankers, commission agents and merchants from all parts of Gujarāt. Even Bombay was pleased to receive the diwāns of Kāthiāvād and Kachha to settle there permanently. Thus, Bombay proved to be the place of amalgamation of Indians as well as the British. In the words of K. M. Munshi, “the West met the East” in Bombay (Munshi 1935: