British Imperialism In India

The rise of British Imperialism within India took place in the 17th century, when the first fleet of European ships landed on the shores of South Asia. Before British imperialism, India was separated into groups of independent and semi-independent kingdoms and territories, with British intentions to unite India as one; one language, one God, and one ruler (Bradley, 2001). On December 31st 1600, Queen Elizabeth of England established trade between the East India Company and the British, which overtime became one of the most powerful mercantile companies in the world (Chris Harmon, n.d.). The Company’s sole purpose originally was to increase trade within Southeast Asia, which later turned into the quest of wealth and power throughout India (Cleary,
The initial interest of economic and political awareness of India started in the 17th century and over many years the British were able to gain exclusive control over India, preventing any other countries from trading with them. They knew that obtaining a greater amount of land, lead to more wealth and power, so by using an already powerful Empire such as the Mughal, they were able to pursue their imperial interests. Due to the company becoming so wealthy, with wealth came high tax rates which even peasants had to pay. This is consistent with a quote said by Chris Harmon in 2012, “crop failures in 1769 were followed by years of famine and disease in which an estimated 10 million people died” (Chris Harmon, n.d.). Many Indians weren’t happy of the high taxes, and as shown in the painting in 1773 of the Boson tea party, native Indians protested by throwing 342 chests of tea into the Boston harbour (A&E Television Networks, 2016). By During the 1800’s, Europe went through an industrial revolution with the use of machines increasing dramatically. Indian workers started to be paid less and less, sinking the Indian economy even further. East India grew poorer in the late 1800’s, resulting in native Indians being treated cruelly by British officials (Tangient LLC,
Alongside the 3000 castes, the Mughal ruling class was Muslim, but many others also were Hindu and Sikh (Wright, 2011). This meant that uniting India under one god was going to be challenge. Being so far from home, the British had to learn to stay self-sufficient, meaning that they maintained their own military in India. The company started to recruit Indians, which were later called Sepoys which is shown in the primary photo, taken in 1857 (Dash, 2012). To load the guns, the sepoys were to bite the end of off the cartridges that were lubricated with grease (a mixture of pig and cow lard); thus to bite the cartridges was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 2016). Once the word was spread about the fat, as stated by an unknown author, “eighty sepoys were thrown into goal for disobedience, an act which finally triggered the uprising” and many were threatened if they didn’t load the cartridges, they were a ‘lost caste’ (British Imperialism in India, 2016). It was not only the sepoys, but large land holders, royal families and citizens from all castes joined uprising as they felt as though their religions and beliefs were under attack, by the British trying to break their sacred grip to their religion and righteously so. The mutiny was quickly shut down, but it resulted in British power taking