1. The Age of Imperialism: India
“The Jewel in the Crown”

2. Goal of Today
We will look at the British reasons for colonizing India and how there were positive and negative aspects of the British rule.

3. European Interest in India
Wanted spices from Asia, tea, jewels, and fabrics of silk and cotton
Spices were used to preserve meats and flavor foods
Interest grew from economic contact to direct political control

4. Role of the British East India Company
Granted a charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 – monopoly on trade with India, China, and Southeast Asia (East Indies)
Received permission from Mughals to trade in India as early as 1613
Had own private army
Had power to sign treaties with Indian rulers

5. British Clash with French
As Mughal rule weakened in the 18th century, Britain and France looked for allies among the warring Indian powers to strengthen their trade position
Britain and France were at war in Europe and in North America
1757 – Battle of Plassey – Robert Clive beat Joseph Dupleix’s French forces

7. Reasons for British Success in India
Collapse of Mughal (Mogul) empire left things divided and unorganized
Divide and conquer = allied with small states against larger ones
Dozens of languages
British played rival princes against one another
British superiority in military and naval power
A series of able administrators & governors

8. The “Brightest Jewel” India was seen as:
The most valuable colony in the British empire
A valuable resource for raw materials
A market for British products (300 million people to buy things)
British restricted the Indians from operating their own businesses
Plantation crops were also very valuable – tea, indigo, coffee, cotton, jute & opium

9. British Opium Warehouse in Patna, India
Selling Patna Opium in China

10. Did the people in India like the British Presence?
British rule was justified, in part, by the claims that the Indians required to be civilized, and that British rule would introduce in place of Indian anarchy a reliable system of justice, the rule of law, and the notion of 'fair play'.
Certain Indian social or religious practices that the British found to be abhorrent were outlawed, such as sati in 1829, and an ethic of 'improvement' was said to dictate British social policies.
In the 1840s and 1850s, more territories were absorbed into British India, either on the grounds that the native rulers were corrupt, inept, and notoriously indifferent about the welfare of their subjects, or that since the native ruler had failed to produce a biological male heir to the throne, the territory was bound to "lapse" into British India upon the death of the ruler.

11. A print from 1815 showing the Hindu religious custom of Sati

12. The Sepoy Mutiny & Its Effects
Sepoy = an Indian serving in the army of a European power

13. The Sepoy Mutiny & Its Effects
Causes
New cartridges had been issued for guns greased with animal fat (sacrilege!) – offended both Hindus and Muslims
Required sepoys to serve outside of India (went against rules for upper-caste Hindus)

15. Sepoy Mutiny “Great Indian Mutiny” Began at army post at Meerut
Sepoys killed every European man, woman, and child they could
Spread to other army posts

16. Sepoy Mutiny Took a year to suppress British brutally subdued revolt
Indians called it the “first war of independence” because it began the rise of Indian nationalism to overthrow the British
British government decided to take over the British East India Company’s command of India

17. Execution of Sepoys: “The Devil’s Wind”

18. Sepoy Mutiny India was divided into two main parts:
A British viceroy controlled three-fifths of subcontinent
Native Indian rulers were allowed control over one-third
In 1876, Queen Victoria was made Empress of India

21. Effects of British Rule in India
Britain tries to replace Indian culture with western ways
British schools offer education
Indians treated as inferiors
New laws = justice for all classes

22. Effects of British Rule in India
Top jobs go to British
Indian resources taken by Britain
British-made goods replace local goods

23. Effects of British Rule in India
New roads and railroads linked parts of India
Telegraph and postal systems united people

24. Effects of British Rule in India
Irrigation systems improve farming
Farms grow cash crops rather than food crops so Indians go hungry

25. Effects of British Rule in India

26. Impact of Colonialism Negative Aspects:
British held political and economic power
British restricted Indian-owned industry (textiles)
Emphasis on cash crops decreased ability for peasants to be self-sufficient  famine
British officials were very racist and tried to influence the culture

27. British Imperialism in India
Lasted from
Mohandas K. Gandhi would lead the bulk of the independence movement in the first half of the twentieth century