Throughout history, many nations have implemented
imperialism to enforce their will over others for money,
protection and civilization. India was no exception. Since its
discovery, Europeans were trying get a piece of India's action.
In many cases England was the imperial, or mother country. Since
India was put under imperialism, a great deal of things changed,
some for the good, mostly though for the bad. Between 1640 and
1949, India was ruled by two periods of imperialism, both of
which effected India in a very profound and permanent manner.
The first period of European control was between 1740 and
1858. During this period the British East India Company
controlled the Indian sub-continent under the guise of economic
imperialism, when in fact the manipulation of Indian affairs was
much more political than let on. When it was founded in 1600 by
Queen Elizabeth I, the East India Company's main purpose was 'to
break into the Indonesian spice trade which was dominated by the
English: Map of the British Indian Empire from Imp...
Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive of Plassey, meeting ...
English: British East India Company flag plate in ...Dutch.' But after colonizing a post a Madras in 1640, the
company was re-chartered to include such rights as coining money
and act as government to British subjects at the East India
Company's posts. As well, the British government also gave the
company the right to make was or peaceful arrangements with
powers who were non-Christian. This control expanded with the
founding of a port at Bombay in 1668, and the founding of
Calcutta in 1690. Then in 1756, a young employee named Robert
Clive, who had been named lieutenant-governor in 1755, was sent
to take back Calcutta from the Bengal nawab. He accomplished
this in January of 1757. Then later that year, Clive lead a
group of 950 European and 2,000 Indian soldiers(sepoys) against
a group of 50,000 Indians lead by a degenerate nawab at Plassey.
The victory of the English forces over the local resistance
brought Bengal under the effective political control of the East
India Company. Although a 'puppet nawab' was left in control of
the area, Clive was granted the right to extract land revenue
from most of eastern India. Through out this whole period, the
company slowly found it's privledges being revoked, until in
1858, the Sepoy Rebellion, or the Indian Revolution, finally
brought an end to the rule of the East India Company in India
when it was revealed the cause of the rebellion was the use of
beef and pork fat to grease rifle cartridges, which are taboo to
the Muslims and Hindus. This Revolution brought the rule of the
East India Company to an end.
The second period of English imperialism started in August
of 1858 when the British monarchy assumed direct control of India
from the East India Company. This established a full colonial
government, where British officials run the countries affairs, in
India. This is known as colonial imperialism. This period was
one of major change in Indian life and culture. While the East
India Company tried respect local customs and learn local
languages, the colonial government 'tried to impose British
culture on India. . . encouraged the Indian people to abandon
their traditions and learn to speak, dress and live like
Europeans.' This came to a head in 1877, when Queen Victoria was
recognized as the Empress of India. The colonial government felt
it was their duty to civilize the people of India, feeling 'I am
a little bit better than you, therefore my presence is
necessary.' This all began to end in 1885 with the formation of
the Indian National Congress, made up of middle-class Indians who
were known as the congress. This congress campaigned for free
education for both sexes, more Indian representation in
government, and other reforms. But then in the early 1900's,
nationalists began to reject British rule and petition for it's
end in India by boycotting British goods and publishing books
which 'restored peoples pride in India's ancient heritage.' The
nationalist leader, Mohandas Gandhi, is perhaps best known for
his method of passive resistance to help the struggle of India.
Then finally in 1949, the partitioning of the British controlled
lands into the independent countries of Pakistan and India
brought an end to English rule in the Indian subcontinent.
Throughout the rule of the British in India, the effect of
the colonial and economic imperialism impacted the sub-continent
in the form of many economic and social changes. On the economic
side, many Indian goods were sold overseas by the East India
Company, but the government of England saw India as a large base
for British goods, as well as a source of raw materials. This
lead to British officials discouraging Indian industry, as well
as encouraging the production of export crops rather than food
crops. In this way cotton was produced in India, processed in
England, and thin sold back to the Indians. This change in food
supplies killed millions of Indians from famine in the 1800's.
Then when the British government took direct control, the
construction of railways, canals, and roads, especially the
opening of the Suez canal in 1869 opened the interior of India
for trade throughout Europe and Asia. With the construction of
the telegraph lines in India, exports from India jumped
tremendously. However, all of the profit went to the
colonialists, plunging most Indians into poverty. The social
changes included the introduction of health care and hospitals,
which, while curing diseases and improving the general health of
Indians, created such a tremendous population explosion that
famine resulted in some regions. As well, the creation of
British educated professionals and business people created a new
upper-class in India changing the rule of class in India forever.
All of these changes, while under the guise of helping the
natives, only served to help the colonists and leave the Indians
feeling inferior, as though Indians are only 'hewers of wood, and
drawers of water'
All of these changes in Indian culture and economy forever
changed the destiny of the Land of India. While many changes may
have been good in retrospect, they were only meant to help the
colonizing British. Overall, the colonization of India had
nothing but a negative effect on its people and culture. Perhaps
one day people will realize that imposing one culture on another
is not only wrong, but it is destructive to the natural course of
a countries history.
Bibliography
'India' Groiler Electronic Encyclopedia, 1994
'India' article found on Internet, 1996
'India, a history of,' Groiler New Book of Knowledge, 1979
In class speech by Mr. Seqera, 1996