History
of
INDIA:
Early Modern
Expansion of Mughal Empire
16-17th centuries:
•
•
•
further growth
display of wealth and grandeur
first signs of weakness
Decline of Mughal Empire
•
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Aurangzeb’s religious bigotry
uprisings (peasants, the Sikhs)
wars of succession
invasions from the Maharthas, Afghans, Iranians
the Mughal dynasty reduced to puppet rulers in
the 18th century
• several smaller states rose to fill the power
vacuum and became contributing factors to the
decline
Post-Mughal period
• Regional states arose in c. 1700-1850
• Avadh or Oudh (in the north) and
Hyderabad (in the south) - on the basis of
older traditions
• the Marathas’, the Jats’, and the Sikhs’
states - no roots in Indian history
Maratha Empire
• yeoman warriors
from Deccan
• founder - Shivaji
(of an aristocratic Bhonsle clan)
• later - under the rule of peshwas
(Citpavan Brahman ministers)
Sikh Empire
• originally – a religious sect
• founder of the religion - Guru Nanak
• 15th-16th centuries
• a community of scribes and traders
• the Sikh army – the Khalsa
• formal start of the Sikh Empire the merger of Misls under
Ranjit Singh
Southern states
• Travancore in modern Kerala
(under Martanda Varma and
Rama Varma) – succeeded in
wars against the Dutch and Mysore;
often allied with the British
• Mysore in modern Karnataka
(under the Wodeyar dynasty:
Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan) –
lost in wars against the British;
puppet monarchs Maharajas
First Europeans
• Alexander the Great – Punjab in 327–325
BCE
• Greek kingdoms – Punjab from the 2nd
century BCE till the 1st century
• Marco Polo, Niccolò dei Conti and Afanasy
Nikitin
• Vasco da Gama – Calicut (now
Kozhikode) in 1498
• Europeans = Yavanas (from Ionians)
Portuguese
• colony began in 1502 - the first
European trading centre at Kollam, Kerala
• Francisco de Almeida - appointed as
the first Portuguese viceroy in 1505
• Afonso de Albuquerque - in 1509
• conquered the city of Goa in 1510
• policy of mixed marriages - miscegenation in Goa
• will to evangelize and promote Catholicism through
Jesuits
• northern province included settlements
at Daman, Diu, Chaul, Baçaim, Salsette, and Mumbai
(Bombay)
• Princess Catherine of Portugal married Charles II of
England, with a dowry that included the city of Bombay
Dutch
• First voyage in 1595 by
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
• Primary goal – neither religion, nor empire
but trade
• the Dutch East India Company - trading posts on different
parts along the Indian coast
- in Travancore
- in Tamil Nadu
• controlled in the 17th-18th centuries
- Malabar southwest coast
- Coromandel southeastern coast
- Surat
• Seized the English trading post at Amboina, the Amboina
Massacre
• the Company went bankrupt due to corruption in 1800
• the richest company ever – 7.4 trillion dollars
French
• the first trading base - Pondicherry
(Puducherry), southeastern India in 1674
- Chandernagore in Bengal, northeastern
India in 1688
- Yanam in Andhra Pradesh in 1723
- Mahe in 1725
- Karaikal in 1739
• Conflicts with the British in the South and North East
• defeated
- in Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757
- in the southeast in the Battle of Wandiwash in 1761
• The French enclaves were integrated only in the 20th
century
British
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•
East Indian Company (the oldest)
Established in 1600 by Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Charter
Indian rule in 1757
control of the seas
greater resources
more advanced military training and technology
attractive to the Indian elite
not only trade but raw materials supply to the British
Empire
• entered non-economic arenas: education, social reform,
and culture
Modern Age
• 1848 - 1885
• The appointment in 1848 of Lord
Dalhousie as Governor General of
the East India Company
• the consolidation and demarcation of
sovereignty
• the surveillance of the population
• the education of citizens
• technological changes: railways, canals, the
telegraph
Road to Independence
• Indian Rebellion/Mutiny of 1857
• Suppressed by 1859
• Reasons:
- lack of adequate respect towards local cultures and religions
- summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes
- invasive British-style social reforms
- harsh land taxes
- general disaffection with the Company
The Mutiny led
- to the dissolution of the East India Company
- to the direct administration of India by the British government
The new government The British Raj
- proclaimed a unitary state
- a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system
- protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future
unrest
Public life gradually emerged all over India
The founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.
Technology and Commercialization
effects
—
+
economic setbacks
commercial cropping
small farmers dependent on the
whims of far-away markets
increased food production for
Internal consumption
an increase in the number of large
scale famines (20 mln victims)
provision of critical famine relief
notable reduction of the cost of
little industrial employment was for moving goods
Indians
help to nascent Indian-owned
industry
New period
• World War I (one million Indians served)
• Repressive legislation
• the beginnings of a non-violent movement of noncooperation inspired by Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi
• World War II (three million Indians served)
• an upsurge of Muslim nationalism
• All India Muslim League established in 1906
• bloody partition of the subcontinent into two states: India
and Pakistan
• Independence in 1947
• First Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
Challenges
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seemingly unyielding poverty
religious and caste-related violence
Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies
separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and wars
with Pakistan fought in 1947, 1965, 1971,
and 1999
• unresolved territorial disputes with China, which
escalated into the Sino-Indian War of 1962
• India–Pakistan nuclear rivalry
Webpage
www.english-studies.ru - MSU - Year 3
Additional Lectures
7 марта (четверг) 19.00
Символ и миф в индуизме
Библиотека Волошина,
Новодевичий проезд, 10
11 марта (понедельник)
19.00
Махабхарата
Библиотека Волошина,
Новодевичий проезд, 10
24 марта (воскресенье) 16.00
Цивилизации долины Инда
Музей Востока
Никитский бульвар, 12А
29 марта (пятница) 14.00
Открытие выставки
«Сокровища Гималаев»
Экспозиция «Ветошный»
Ветошный пер, 13
7 апреля (воскресенье) 16.00
Индия от ариев до Гуптов
Музей Востока
Никитский бульвар, 12А
Next class
Lecture:
Demography. Society. Economy.
Presentations:
The economic prospects of India
The caste system in India
Discussion:
Colonialism: a curse or a blessing?