The British Rule of India
European Imperialism
British Raj
2011
European Imperialism
The British Empire
The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters
How did the British rule India?
• It wasn’t a sudden process
– Began in 1750s, East Indian Company
– Took full control in 1857
• The East India Company-took over
from the declining Mughals Empire
• A trading relationship at first, trade
domination shifts to political
domination! (1600’s)
The 1857 Rebellion
• Called the “Sepoy Rebellion”
• Problem over loading bullets-lasted for
over a year
• South Asia is now a colony of Britain!
• 100,000 British soldiers ruling over
more than 200 million people.
Picture of Sepoy rebellion
Justice!
From “Punch” Magazine:
Benjamin Disraeli gives
Victoria her new crown
The Jewel of the British
Empire
The Queen With
Two Heads
Queen Victoria, the Empress
of India!
Honoring the empress
Two Views of
Indian Life
Two views of
Indian Life
Victorian Values
God’s Chosen People
Protestant/Evangelical
Sanctity of Family & Home
PARLIAMENT BUILDING
New Delhi, India
Rudyard Kipling
The White Man’s Burden
Sir Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
Macaulay’s Minute on Education
• In 1830s there was a big dispute over which language should be
used for education in India & over content of the government’s
education system.
• What then shall that language be? One-half of the Committee
maintain that it should be the English. The other half strongly
recommend the Arabic and Sanskrit. The whole question seems
to me to be, which language is the best worth knowing?
• I have never found one among them who could deny that a
single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole
native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of
the Western literature is, indeed, fully admitted by those
members of the Committee who support the Oriental plan of
education.
• Advocates the creation of a class of anglicized Indians who
would serve as cultural intermediaries between the British &
their Indian subjects.
Indian Civil Service
• Viceroy• Elite-Englishmen &
Indian officials
Arrogance of the British
• Census, tracking of Hindus & Muslimsdefining Indians by religion
• Divide & Conquer strategy- if distrust
between the two groups they cannot unite
against the British
• Remember; Muslim’s had ruled over subcontinent for over 500 years.
Was colonial rule a positive or
negative?
Modernization, education,
infrastructure- Railroads
• Improved Roads & sea ports
• Built Railroads &
telegraphy system
• Improved healthcare &
sanitary conditions
• Established schools for elite
class of Indians (based on
western values & history)
Racism & economic
exploitation
• Discouraged Indian
industries- need Indians to
buy expensive western
goods
• Emphasized cash crops, lead
to widespread famine &
food shortages.
• Criticism of Indian
religions, culture and
customs.
Rise of Nationalism
Indian National Congress
• Political
organization/political party
in modern times.
• Gandhi & J. Nehru
Muslim League
• Political organization to
protest Muslim rights/party
• M. Ali Jinnah
Stop here. Complete after the
Gandhi Film.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Gandhi Spinning Cloth
• Harbor no anger, but suffer the
Gandhi’s
anger of the opponent. Do not
Satyagraha
return assaults
Principles of resistance • Do not submit to an order given
to British rule, using
in anger
non-violent, peaceful
• Refrain from insults and
protests/actions.
swearing
• Protect the opponents from
Civil Disobedience,
insult or attack, even at the risk
act of refusal to obey
of life
unjust laws.
• If taken prisoner, behave in an
exemplary manner
• Obey the orders of the
satyagraha leaders
The 1930 Salt March
(ex. of civil disobedience)
• According to law, the British had a
monopoly on the manufacture and sale
of salt.
• Indians were arrested if they tried to
make salt.
• Gandhi directly defied British law and
marched to the ocean to collect salt.
Salt March Monument
Gandhi picks up a grain of salt
in defiance of British law.