British Imperialism in IndiaBritish Imperialism in India

What was the British Raj and why did it form?

Economic Imperialism in India

• 1600: British East India Company begins sets up trading posts in India

• India’s ruling Mughal Dynasty keeps European traders under control

• 1757: Mughal Dynasty starts to collapse

• B.E.I.C’s troops attack remaining Mughal troops in the Battle of Plassey & take control of India

• Sepoys (Indian soldiers) join BEIC

• India is “Jewel in the Crown” (main supplier of raw material to Britain)

• 1850s: Sepoys discover rifles were greased w/ pork & beef fat

•1857: Sepoys rebel against the B.E.I.C. – Sepoy Mutiny (Rebellion)

• Indian Muslims and Hindus would not unite together & British Govt (with the help of Indian Sikhs) steps in to help BEIC

BEIC

British modernized India with telephone, roads, sanitation

British relied on cash crops so there was not as much food

Schools & colleges were founded and literacy increased

More missionaries and racist British officials threatened India’s culture

Positive points of British

Colonization

Negative points of British Colonization

British built the world’s third largest railroad system

British hold all of the economic & political power

• As a result of the Sepoy Mutiny, British Gov. takes direct control of India (colony)

• This period is known as the British Raj

• 1900: Ram Mohun Roy states Indians need to work together or will be forever ruled by Brits

• 1905: British partition Bengal, to keep Muslim & Hindus separate & disunited