Britain had a desire to have a more economic, political, and social influence over India. Even though the British never preserved a notable military existence in India, they were able to maintain political control. Many changes were made, which benefitted India, but there were also some changes, which contributed to its deterioration. Despite the negative impacts Britain left on India, imperialism is best understood as a strong country extending its authority, in order to increase its wealth, by bringing more of the world under its control, because Britain helped in the development of India from a nation-state, to a unified country, which is modernly the world’s largest democracy.
Britain, a strong nation, demanded more influence over the economic, political, and social lives of the Indian people. They were determined to shape the economy of India, to benefit European economies. Britain also wanted the people to adopt their customs. Initially, the British government controlled the East India Company’s efforts in both India and London. Up until the start of the nineteenth century, the East India Company governed India with very little intrusion from the British government. The company had its own army, which was headed by British officers and the staff was made up of sepoys, which were Indian soldiers. The British East India Company management represented Britain in India.
Originally, the British valued India, not because of its profit, but because of its potential for success. With the Industrial Revolution, Britain had developed into an international factory, with India as its supplier for raw materials. The British thought of India as its “jewel in the crown.” They thought of India as the most treasured and valuable of a...
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...ne rule, propelling their prize colony into the modern world of industry, economy, and education, and unknowingly preparing India for its future independence.
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scandals, several major political corruption. "HISTORY OF INDIA." A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety ::Indianchild.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. .
Not only did the inequality and separation of the Indian society frustrate the citizens of India, but the imperialism Britain had upon them as well. In the early 20th century, Indian nationalists wanted to take a stand against the British rule and make India independent. The British created unfair laws that created a nationalist movement in India to regain their freedom. He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth.
India has been under control from Britain for over 200 years. The Indian people have got tired of being controlled by Britain and have decided to retaliate. Europeans have taken over so many small around this time. The process of taking over a weaker country is known as Imperialism. Imperialism is when stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker nation. There were many reasons why Imperialism occurred. Britain wanted to spread Christianity and get natural resources. The main reason why India was taken over by Britain was because of the natural resource cotton. For example, President McKinley once said in his quote that it was okay to take over weaker nations. He was basically saying that weaker nations need to be governed and that the stronger nations will help them. Great Britain has tried to help India in their perspective but to India Britain has ruined their culture, cotton, and independence.
Introduction: The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as a proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans are aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on.
The English East India Company played a key role in the formation of Britain as an empire. Through transcontinental trade, the company acquired massive amounts of wealth, that trickled down to merchants, and skilled labourers throughout England. The monopoly granted to the Company on tea and saltpeter allowed the East India Company to assist in transforming Britain’s economy, as well as contributing to the political power of the growing English empire. James Frey’s article The Indian Saltpeter Trade, the Military Revolution, and the Rise of Britain as a Global Superpower outlines the growing importance of saltpeter as a war resource, and the connection
Smith, Woodruff D. European Imperialism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Inc., 1982. 1-10.
India was also being eyed by the British government not just for its profit but for its potential. Later, India was referred to as the “brightest jewel in the crown.” The British laid down the foundation of a modern country for India introducing police, employing many Indians and educating Indians in British schools. On the other hand the British took complete control of India, took most of the natural resources and left the majority of India uneducated.
New imperialism was the mid nineteenth and twentieth centuries cultural equivalent to a modern day mafia, its roots entangled in the economic, cultural, and humanistic aspects of life. The sole objective of the nations entailed the exploitation of their controlled state. Gestating from the change in control of Asian and African nations to the Europeans by means of political deviance, malicious sieges, and strategic military attacks. The juxtaposition to the modern equivalent endures as the aforesaid is sheltered by the fairytale that these nations were in need of aid and by doing so the Europeans were the good guys. The ideas of new imperialism are greatly influenced by those of the enlightenment. Taking place during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the enlightenment was an intellectual movement with the goal of social progress (Genova, 1/11). Armed with scientific thought and reason, enlightenment thinkers set out to explore the fields of science, economics, and human nature. Brilliant minds such as Voltaire, Kant and others all across Western Europe collaborated to further knowledge. The enlightenment laid the foundation on which new imperialism sprung, embedding the ideas of an incessant need to explore not only the scientific world but the physical world as well. The enlightenments goals and ideas significantly influenced new imperialism, because the enlightenment created a need for new means and a purpose to accrue them.
The Effects of British Imperialism in India One could approach this topic from two points of view: the British and the Indian. One could choose either party and find very different opinions. When British colonizers first arrived in India, they slowly gained more and more control in India through many ways, the most prominent being trade and commerce. At first, they managed India’s government by pulling the string behind the curtain. However, soon they had acquired complete rule over India, converting it into a true British colony.
Imperialism in India British imperialism in India had many positive and negative effects on both the mother country, Britain and the colony, India. Many people would argue which effects were more prominent in these countries, and some would agree that they were equal. But in both cases, there were actually both. In India, the British colonization had more positive effects than negative. For instance, when the British colonized India they built 40,000 miles of railroad and 70,000 miles of paved roadway.
St. John, Ian. The Making of the Raj : India Under the East India Company. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger, 2012.eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost(accessed April 2, 2014).
For the past sixty-seven years, the citizens of India have embraced their country’s independence all the while seeking to regain their past. Prior to this renewed sense of freedom, India had belonged to the British Empire. From 1858 to 1947, the British government claimed India and its inhabitants as a colonial possession. Before the British Empire laid claim to the vastness of India, the British East India Company helped to oversee the transfer of the Kohinoor Diamond from the Sikh Empire to their motherland in 1851.
There is no doubt that British imperialism had a large impact on India. India, having previously been an group of independent and semi-independent princedoms and territories, underwent great change under British administration. Originally intended to consolidate their hold on India by establishing a population that spoke the same language as their rulers, the British decision in the 1830s to educate Indians in a Western fashion, with English as the language of instruction, was the beginning of a chain of events, including a rise in Indian nationalism, that led to Indian resentment of British imperialism and ultimately to the loss of British control over India.
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
The relationship between India and Britain can be dated far back at the appearance of British East India Company (who held the paramount power in India until the end of the Rebellion), and the beginning of textile trading between Britain and India . However, it was not just the power the East India Company had in India that Britain was interested in, but India’s “vast reservoir of wealth, upon which individuals, institutions, and governments could draw without restraint” . Britain saw that if India became part of its Empire and was under its control, it could “gain absolute control over its riches and resources” . Britain also saw India having a pract...
India was the first major Asian civilizations to fall victim to European predatory activities (Duiker 31). With conquering India, the British had various purposes behind it. Their main purpose was to achieve a monopolistic trading position (The Economic and Social Impact of Colonial Rule in India). The second purpose was the control of India; this was a key element in the world power structure, in terms of geography, logistics and military manpower (The Economic and Social Impact of Colonial Rule in India). When the East India Company continued to trade under the British, huge armies were created, largely composed of Indian sepoys (Marshall). The armies were used to defend the Company’s territories protect the Indian states (Marshall).