India: Political History

The first advanced Indian settlements were in the Indus River Valley.

Marco Polo visited India briefly in his travels between China and Europe in the 1200s. Marco! Polo!

In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama arrived in India. This started Europe’s regular contact with India, based on trade.

The British set up East India Tea Company to compete with the Portuguese traders in the early 1600s.

You’ve already heard of the British East India Tea Company.

Starting with trade, the British eventually took over political control of India.

By 1921, the British Empire stretched around the globe.

The British military controlled India

while the British colonists in India lived in wealth and luxury.

India was an exotic playground for the British.

Many Indians rebelled against British control through the years.

But none of the rebellions succeeded until a skinny little Indian lawyer got involved. His name was Mohandas Gandhi.

Born in India, he attended law school in England.

He then set up a law firm in British- controlled South Africa.

He quickly discovered that Indians were “Coloured” in South Africa, and that he had limited rights.

During his 21 years in South Africa, he helped organize educated local Indians to protest against racist laws. Gandhi was arrested several times for these protests.

In South Africa, he developed the belief that protests should NOT be violent. He taught that even when attacked, protesters should remain peaceful.

and returned to India. In 1914, he and his wife left South Africa

For several years in India, he organized non-violent resistance to the British government.

India had many different languages. Gandhi was Hindu. And while most people were Hindu, there were many Muslims. Gandhi taught the importance of working together.

Many photographs show Gandhi spinning his own thread. He asked Indians to make their own cloth so they wouldn't’t have to pay for expensive British cloth.

At 60 years old, Gandhi organized a 240- mile March to the Sea to gather their own salt – in defiance of British salt laws.

As British soldiers watched, the Indian protesters gathered their own raw salt and converted it to cooking salt on the beach.

The British arrested Gandhi and 60,000 others.

But Gandhi was popular with many British, and the British government was tired of struggling to control India.

Just one year after the March to the Sea, Gandhi was out of prison and invited to talks in London on the future independence of India.

The British welcomed him as an international hero.

One concern the British had was whether or not the Muslims and Hindus of India could work together. A plan was made to “partition” (divide) land for Muslims.

These talks led to India’s eventual independence in 1947.

India’s plan for a peaceful “partitioning” of India and Pakistan did not work out.

Resentments and mistrust led to violence between India’s Muslims and Hindus.

In just 2 months, people had to move to “their” side of the new border.

In the chaos of massive moving, many people lost most of their possessions and violence broke out along the border crossings.

Still today, there is conflict between Pakistan and India about which country should own Kashmir.

Just days after India’s independence, Gandhi was shot by a Hindu radical.

India and the world mourned his death.

This is what Gandhi left behind when he died.

His body was cremated – an India tradition. At Gandhi’s request, his ashes were divided and sent to 20 different regions of India, where they were scattered in India’s rivers.

Gandhi is remembered as a national hero in India today.

In a gentle way, you can shake the world. Gandhi quotes:

I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. You must be the change you want to see in the world. Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.

Fear has its use but cowardice has none. Learn as if you would live forever, live as if you would die tomorrow. I will not let anyone walk through my mind with dirty feet.

‘An eye for an eye’ makes the whole world blind.

EXTRA CREDIT: Find 3 adults who agree with at least one of Gandhi’s quotes (from your notes). Ask each adult these questions and YOU write down each one’s responses: 1. Which quote do you most agree with? 2. Give one example of how (or reason why) that quote is true for you. (due by this Friday)