museum walk.imperialism in india

8/7/2019 Museum Walk.imperialism in India

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(1) The Mughals

The British conquest of India was a gradual one. As early as the 1600s, the

British East India Company was only able to set up trading posts at Bombay,

Madras, and Calcutta by establishing trade agreements with the powerful

Mughal Empire.

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The Great Moghul Jahangir: Letter to

James I, King of England, 1617 A.D.When your Majesty shall open this letter let your royal heart be as fresh as a sweet garden. Let all people make reverence at yourgate; let your throne be advanced higher; amongst the greatness of the kings of the prophet Jesus, let your Majesty be the

greatest, and all monarchies derive their counsel and wisdom from your breast as from a fountain, that the law of the majesty of

Jesus may revive and flourish under your protection.

The letter of love and friendship which you sent and the presents, tokens of your good affections toward me, I have received by

the hands of your ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe (who well deserves to be your trusted servant), delivered to me in an acceptable

and happy hour; upon which mine eyes were so fixed that I could not easily remove them to any other object, and have acceptedthem with great joy and delight.

Upon which assurance of your royal love I have given my general command to all the kingdoms and ports of my dominions to

receive all the merchants of the English nation as the subjects of my friend; that in what place soever they choose to live, they

may have free liberty without any restraint; and at what port soever they shall arrive, that neither Portugal nor any other shall

dare to molest their quiet; and in what city soever they shall have residence, I have commanded all my governors and captains to

give them freedom answerable to their own desires; to sell, buy, and to transport into their country at their pleasure.

For confirmation of our love and friendship, I desire your Majesty to command your merchants to bring in their ships of all sorts of

rarities and rich goods fit for my palace; and that you be pleased to send me your royal letters by every opportunity, that I may

rejoice in your health and prosperous affairs; that our friendship may be interchanged and eternal.

Your Majesty is learned and quick-sighted as a prophet, and can conceive so much by few words that I need write no more.

The God of heaven give you and us increase of honor.

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(2) The Fall of the

Mughals By 1707, however, the Mughal

Empire was collapsing. Led byMuslim leader Aurangzeb, whoended religious tolerance, internalstrife had fractured the empire intodozens of small states, each headedby a ruler or maharajah. Some ofthese maharajahs supported Britishintervention because they believed aclose alliance with the Europeanswould allow themselves to gainmore power.

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Hi, Im Augangzeb:

Emperor of the

Mughals and

religious fanatic.


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(3) Battle of Plassey

In 1757, Robert Clive was sent by the British East India Company to lead East India

Company troops in a decisive victory over Mughal forces allied with the French at

the Battle of Plassey. By launching a surprise attack on the Mughals camp with

1,350 Europeans and 800 Indian soldiers and aided by the cover of fog, he was

able to obtain the surrender of Mughal emperor Mir Jahar, who was abandoned

by his fleeing troops. India became a colony of the British under the control ofthe British East India Company, who gradually took over more and more territory

from Indian princes.


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(4) Corporate Imperialism: Sepoys

At first, the British East India Company ruled India with little interference from the

British government and practiced indirect rule of the colony. The military was still

mostly composed of Indians. The British East India Company hired sepoys, or Indian

soldiers, to maintain control of the colony.

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At first, the British East IndiaCompany tried to run thecolony as cheaply and easilyas possible and did not makemany dramatic changes.

Local officials, calledZamindars, who under theMughals had owned hugetracts of land continued tocollect taxes. The Zamindarswere like the nobles of

feudalism they collectedone third of the produce ofthe land was collected bylocal officials who wereentitled to keep a proportion

for themselves. 9

(5) Corporate Imperialism: Zamindars


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The Company Resident and His Puppetundated Indian painting

As zamindarsenforcedcompany policy requiring farmersto grow a certain

amount of cashcrops, they werefrequently seenby peasants asthe enemy.

How does thisartist representsocial inequalityin this picture?

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Additionally, they were not concernedwith making any dramatic social changes.For instance, the company did appointBritish judges to supervise Indian courts.Aside from officially outlawing certainpractices, like sati (pictured to the side),child marriage, and slavery, these courtswere allowed to apply Hindu or Islamicrather than British law.

Company men like Warren Hastings, whoruled British Bengal from 1772 to 1785,believed that Indian institutions werewell adapted to Indian needs and that thenew British governments should try torestore an 'ancient constitution', whichhad been ruined by Mughal misrule.

(5) Corporate Imperialism

Sati was when a widow was

forced to light herself on fire

with her husbands funeral

pyre. 11


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Untouchables Watering a man without breaking caste rules. For

an Untouchable, a member of the lowest Hindusocial class, the rules are many, with prohibitions oneverything from physical contact with higher castesto drinking from central village wells.

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However, the company still ruled with one intent in mind: to makethe most money. India was viewed as the jewel in the crown of theBritish empire. The Industrial Revolution had turned Britain into theworlds workshop. Its 300 million people were also a large potentialmarket for British-made goods. To ensure that Indians only boughtBritish manufactures, they created internal taxes within India whereit was cheaper to buy imported British goods than to buy locallymade goods. As a result, the once booming Indian economy

crumbled. The Indian hand-woven cloth industry was eliminated, aswas metalwork, glass, paper, and ship manufacturing. This processwas so significant that some historians refer to this as thedeindustrialization of India.

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(6) Corporate Imperialism: Increasing Profitability


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Indians illegally producing their own clothes

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(7) Corporate Imperialism: Changes to farming

As workers were pushed out of manufacturing and forced tothe find jobs as farmers, they still found their work wascarefully monitored. Farmers were required to cash cropslike tea, indigo, cotton, jute, and of course, the all-importantdrug opium. As a result, food production within India fell 7%while large exports of grain where shipped to England to

improve British diet. Under British control, Indiaexperienced several severe famines.

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The Good: Creating Hospitals& Teaching Nursing

About 7 million Indians died during the famine of1876 when the British forced India to grow cotton

instead of food and continued to collect harsh taxes.17


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Corporate Imperialism: Improved Infrastructure

However, the British did reinvest some of the collectedtax money into improving India. As an Englishman ofthe time noted, British brains, British enterprise, andBritish capital have changed the face of India. Means ofcommunication have been developed. There are greatnumbers of bridges, more than 40,000 miles of railway,and 70,000 miles of paved roads. These testify to theskill and industry of British engineers. Irrigation works

on a very large scale and have brought 30 million acresunder cultivation. This has greatly added to theagricultural wealth of the country. Industrialization hasalso begun. India now has improved sanitation and ahigher standard of living. It has a fine transport systemand carefully thought-out schemes for relief work.Because of these things famines have now almostdisappeared. Although the author of this quote clearlyunderestimated the impact of famine, the British didprovide relief the relief to famine stricken areas byproviding food at relief centers. They built hospitals.They built schools. The literacy rate grew. The Britishsuccessfully spread the technologies andaccomplishments of the Industrial Revolution to India.

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Top - The Indian Railway

was the third largest in

the world.

Middle British officials

handing out aid to

famine victims.

Bottom- The

Mullaperiyar Dam

increased foodproduction.


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Universities trained doctors, lawyers,

and other professionals

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Indian Resentment: Missionaries

Despite the benefits of modern advances,

many Indians believed that in addition to

controlling their land, the British were trying

to convert them to Christianity. Thousands of

Protestant missionaries were sent to India.26


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Indian Resentment: Racism

Additionally, Indians began to resent the constant racism the Britishexpressed toward them. For instance, a British engineer on the East

India Railway was paid 20 times as much money as a Indian engineerwith the same education. It was typical for a British person to have asmany as thirty servants to wait on them hand and foot. It wasimpossible for any Indian to have any access to such wealth as theywere barred from top posts in the Indian Civil Service and military.Segregation was encouraged. Indians would have to wait until afterEuropeans to be served in any business. The average Indian was

confronted with daily racism. 27


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Left: Photograph of Christian

missionaries and churches in

India

Bottom: Indian painting of aChristian missionary

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SepoySepoy MutinyMutinyAll this resentment boiled over in 1857. A rumor had

spread among the sepoys, or Indian soldiers, that thecartridges of their new Enfeild rifles were greased with

beef and/or pork fat. To use the cartridges, soldiers had

to bite off the ends. Both Hindus, who consider the cow

sacred, and Muslims, who do not eat pork, were outraged

by the news.

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A garrison commander was shocked when 85 of his 90

sepoys refused to accept the cartridges. These soldierswere then jailed for refusing orders and most were

sentenced to 10 years hard labor. The next day, on

May 10, 1857, sepoys went on a rampage. They killed

about fifty men, women, and children. One woman

was stabbed to death, while another had her clothes

set on fire.

The rebellion soon spread countrywide. An army of

sepoys marched to Delhi, where they were joined byIndian soldiers stationed there. They captured the city

of Delhi. From Delhi, the rebellion spread to northern

and central India. It took over a year to regain control

of the colony, and even then it was only after the

British government sent troops to help.

This mutiny marked a turning point in Indian history.

The British government took direct control of the

colony away from the British East India Company.

Despite the fact the Sepoy Mutiny officially failed,

some say this Great Rebellion was the beginning of

the end of the British colony. Whereas under indirect

control there was some limited cooperation by certain

groups of Indians, under direct control nationalism

flourished. Indians began to demand an independent

country as they believed that they were second class

citizens in their own country. 31

SepoySepoy MutinyMutiny


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English depiction of European men, women, and

children, murdered by Sepoys

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Crimes committed by the British

In retaliation for crimes against the British,

captured sepoys were subjected to severe

torture. Before being hung, they would be

forced to swallow beef or pork or lick the

floors of a home where women and children

were massacred. In some cases, captured

mutineers would be strapped to a cannon andblown apart.

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Executed leaders of the Sepoy Mutiny

In 1857, the Sepoy soldiersrebelled against the Britishwhen they heard rumors

that the bullets they wereusing were coated withanimal (cow or pig) fat

The Sepoy Mutiny was crushed bythe British army but revealedhostility between Indians & British

Indians hired by Englandto serve as soldiers

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Despite promisingmany of theprinces whoremained loyal to

England during therebellion that theycould continue theautonomy grantedby previoustreaties, England

limited theirpower and tookgreater andgreater control ofall parts of India.

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Secundra Bagh after the slaughter of 2,000 Rebels by the 93rd Highlanders and 4th Punjab

Regiment. Albumen silver print by Felice Beato, 1858.


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h ld l h


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British soldiers looting Qaisar Bagh,

Lucknow, after its recapture (steel

engraving, late 1850s)

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Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi was one of the principal leaders of the Great Uprising of

1857 after losing her kingdom as a result of the British East India Companys Doctrine

of Lapse. This was a law that said an ruling family with no male heir would lose their

title and land to the British Empire.

B h d Sh h Z f (l t h l ) il d


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Bahadur Shah Zafar(last mughal emperor) exiled

in Rangoon. Photograph by Robert Tytlerand

Charles Shepherd, May 1858.

After the Sepoys

tried to restore the

last Mughal

emperor to the

throne, he was

exiled from India.

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