2. Ch 9 sec 4

3.  The British East India Company began trading in India in the 1600s. As the Mughal empire became weak, the company became stronger, controlling more of the country.  They used the cultural and language differences in India to keep the people from uniting against the East India Company, and used force when that did not work.

4.  The company’s main goal was profit, but they also improved roads, reduced crime, and preserved peace between groups.  They also tried to “improve” Indian culture by bringing Christianity, and changing education and the legal system. They also tried to end slavery and the caste system.

5.  The company made changes that angered the Indian population. First, Indian soldiers that worked for the company, called sepoys, were forced to serve anywhere the company wanted, even overseas.  Second, they allowed Hindu widows to remarry, which violated sati where the widow was supposed to kill herself when her husband dies.

6.  The biggest problem was when new guns were issued to the sepoys. The cartridges for the guns needed to be bit off before loading, but they were greased with fat from a cow or pig.  Hindus worshipped cows, and Muslims were not allowed to eat pigs, so it was offensive to both groups in India. When the troops refused, they were put in jail.

7.  The sepoys rebelled, and many of them tried to restore the old Mughal emperor. They killed many British, but the British were able to eventually crush the rebellion.  The British then took revenge by slaughtering many Indians, and destroying entire villages.

8.  In 1858 Parliament ended the East India Company’s control of India and made it a British colony.  The government sent more troops to control the area, and taxed the Indians to pay for it. The people in India resented the British and tensions would be high for the next 100 years.

9.  The British held the top jobs in government, but did have Indians in the government as well.  They wanted to modernize India, by improving technology and westernizing its culture.

10.  Britain built roads and railroads all across India in the hopes of gaining raw materials and selling finished products.  The telegraph allowed communication and British control to increase in India.  The British pushed farmers to grow cash crops to make more money for the British, and the cheap textiles made in British factories destroyed India’s hand-weaving industry.

11.  New farming methods allowed for more crops to be grown, but they were not grown for food. Famines were a threat to the population.  Peace was brought by the British, and the justice system was improved. Communication was widespread and helped to build a national identity.

12.  The upper class of Indians prospered under the British. They adopted British culture and education, and supported the policies that gave them wealth and power.  Some Indians saw the value of parts of English culture, but not at the expense of their own. They supported revival of their own ideas and heritage.

13.  Some people in Britain supported Indian culture and were drawn to its theology and philosophy.  Most felt that Indian culture had no value and really did not think it should survive. They thought the Indian people should just act and think like the British.

14.  The British felt that if the upper class Indians adopted their ways of life and education that they would support British control of India.  The opposite happened, though. The educated Indians began to push for democracy and self-rule, and started the nationalist movement.

15.  They organized the Indian National Congress, which used peaceful protest to achieve their goal of independence.  Muslims and Hindus worked together at first, but the Muslims began to resent Hindu domination of the Congress and started the Muslim League, to create their own Muslim country.

16.  321+1  Write 3 things you learned today  Write 2 things you want to learn more about  Write 1 thing you didn’t understand  Write 1 thing someone else learned that you did not write down