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British Indian Imperialism

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The rule of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947 greatly affected the net economic status of India. Trade was the sole reason for the British East India company arrival in India, for the Industrial Revolution in Britain led to the increase in demand for raw materials in factories and India served as an efficient platform. However, as their influence started expanding, they created new policies and began to colonize India not only economically, but also socially and politically. Historians continue to debate whether the long-term impact of British rule in India was accelerating the economy or declining it. That being said, my paper is going to be assessing the positive and negative impacts on the Indian economy …show more content…

The excessive external economic drain by the British from India was mainly caused by high tax burdens on peasants, the process of the East India Company buying materials at a low price while selling processed goods at a steep price, interest charges on public debt held in Britain, and annuities on railway/irrigation works. This “economic drain theory” was first acknowledged by Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) who was the first Indian to sit in the British parliament to speak on behalf of Indian interests. The constant flow of wealth from India to England for which India did not get an adequate economic, commercial or material return has been described as ‘drain’ of wealth from India. The colonial government was utilizing Indian resources - revenues, agriculture, and industry; not for developing India but purely for its utilization in Britain. If these resources been utilized within India then they could have been invested and the income of the people would have increased. Another major shift that took place in India was the transition from the growth of food grains to the cultivation of cash crops. Britain encouraged Indian farmers to grow cash crops for their own needs and profit, so the food grain production went down, eventually causing the famine of Bengal in 1700’s which killed approximately 10 million people. The policy of commercialization of agriculture by the British encouraged market oriented produc­tion of cash crops such as opium, tea, coffee, sugar, jute and indigo. Indian peasants were forced to grow these cash crops that spoiled the fertility of the land and no other crop could be grown on

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Before the BEIC, India was one of the wealthiest countries globally. Indian products like spices, textiles, and the country’s precious stones were highly desired, giving them a major role in trade. Once the BEIC took control, India’s wealth diminished greatly. The British put in place taxes on wealthy landowners and on “the trade of all fine and valuable merchandise.” (Document 9)

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How could these documents be used to explain a driving force behind European imperialism in Africa? These document could be used to explain through a few of different things like technological advancements, African colonies and raw materials they had, and economic factors. These are three reasons to help explain the driving force behind European imperialism and also could answer questions that go along with the main question like why the Europeans imperialized Africa. Why did it have to be Africa at all? These are all questions and ways to explain the main question.

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However, this shift in India’s political control occurred as a result of British attempts to develop their East India trade monopoly, which resulted in the British gradually conquering and collecting taxes from Indian states such as Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Therefore, the central change in the Indian region was the shift of local

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744 Words | 3 Pages

Dr. Lalvani stated Indian Railways today is the world’s largest employer with 1.6 million employees. Also during Imperialism laid down 10,000 miles of railroad tracks to export Indian goods and natural resources to Britain. The railways were also good for communication and travel. They also protected wildlife and important buildings like the Taj Mahal as to preserve the Indian culture. But the British pushed cash crops which increased wealth for the indian and british economy however it degraded the indian lands and made it hard to grow when the british left( doc.6).

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555 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, imperialism affected numerous societies across the world such as Africa, Japan, Great Britain, Korea, and Asia. Imperialism extends and influences a country’s power to gain territory and effects society with the inventions of education, transportation with roads, bridges, and canals, and communication with the telegraph. Great Britain has all the natural resources (raw materials), markets, and cheap labors that others lack such as Japan. Joseph Chamberlain believed colonies were valuable to Great Britain because they would increase the demand for goods, develop new markets, and would give an opportunity to extend influence and control over Africa (Doc 1).

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236 Words | 1 Pages

According to CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention), “Valley Fever is not contagious. Valley Fever is caused by fungus that lives in the environment. Symptoms of Valley Fever are usually similar to the flu.” In the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, valley fever is a crucial event. Valley fever affected people in the 1930s, was used throughout the novel, and was depicted correctly by the author.

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1152 Words | 5 Pages

When they go, they carry all they have gained” (Naoroji). Europeans invaded India in search for resources and took everything that the indigenous people of India fought hard for. Since the previous governments were weak, many people already lived within meager means, once the British took over, people fell into deeper poverty. “The poverty of the country grew. The standard of living fell to terribly low levels” (Nehru).

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308 Words | 2 Pages

Even though, the French and the British came to North America in order to get power (Imperialism) their got opposites views and/or ways on how to get it. The British came seeking land because they thought that North America has a great vacant wilderness where the native American were frequently seen as wild savages. The French wanted to exploit North America’s riches through trade. So, the English and French were competing for trading rights and lands in North America. This conflict and/or manifestation of same forces and pressures that exploded in The Seven Years’ war which was about imperialism, In North America was known as the French and Indian War.

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India was dominant towards the cotton textile industry trade, which motivated England to take the opportunity of forcibly removing all indigenous competition: “...the British who most fully took advantage of the collapse of the empire. Between 1757 and 1803, they took control of most of India except the Northwest. The result was that the East India Company now administered major sectors of the economy, and quickly reduced the role of the big Indian bankers by changes in taxes and methods of collecting them. ”(Mukherjee) By eliminating any further competition at their weakest moment, England lowered India’s economy and chances of industrializing.

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In the race of European imperialism, European countries dominated innocent African colonies. The driving force behind this? Africa’s bountiful resources. Before Africa’s colonization, the European presence in Africa was extremely limited, mainly due to lack of exploration and diseases (Background Essay). However, this changed as European prominence became largely influential through the discovery of Africa’s resource rich lands.

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From the sixteenth century, Europeans were satisfied with establishing colonies and carrying out trading and missionary activity in foreign continents. However, in the late nineteenth century, countries were determined to take control over large territories in order to expand their empires, a surge known as the new imperialism. Creating colonies acted as a symbol of prestige and dominance over rival nations. The Europeans also hoped to discover riches and valuable natural resources to open regions to commerce. Additionally, they felt it was their duty to civilize the native people by governing them and converting them to Christianity (Spielvogel and McTighe 226).

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The discovery of the new world was traced back thousands of years ago. The new world already had settlers within the land before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1607. The reactions of the Native Americans were hostile because of their past interactions with the Spanish explorers by the coastline. The encounter with Columbus' arrival, allowed the natives to attack one of the ships before the ships had landed on the shore. The attack on the ships did not last long because the Indians offered food and hospitality.

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780 Words | 4 Pages

Did you know that from 1875 to 1900 there were 26 million deaths caused by famine in India? As the East India Company (Britain) saw India growing weaker they took that as an advantage and sent troops to India and defeated them. Britain soon took power over India, They formed a group of Indian Soldiers called sepoys to join their army. Starting out, Britain improved many things, but after a while they started taking advantage of India by using their raw materials and people to grow their own empire. British Rule in India resulted in the in them taking over the government, taking all the material from the Indians and destroying their land and ending in a large amount of India's population dead because of famine.

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1041 Words | 5 Pages

The British first came to India not only because of the abundance of raw materials, but also the mass potential they seen. The British East India Company, took advantage of the collapsing Mughal Empire, and broke away from their control to flourished their company. In 1857 the Sepoy army rebelled and that caused the British to come in guns blazing and take over the country. The British rule demolished India through, taxation on anything made in India, and the exportation of raw materials, which caused a plentiful amount of famine,and throughout all of this, the British kept most on India uneducated, and those they did educate, most were forced to become interpreters for the benefits it would make in taking over India and keeping the British in control. Political Paragraph British imperialism had a negative effect on the politics of India because of the corrupt justice system, and the utter lack of respect that killed masses of innocent people.

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819 Words | 4 Pages

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