British Influence in India During the 19th Century
by Rita Kennedy, Demand Media
British rule in India lasted almost 250 years.
The British presence in India began as a commercial enterprise: the British East India Company, a trading
organization, had been active on the subcontinent since the early 1600s and, by the middle of the 1700s, had turned
India into what historian Philip J. Stern calls “the company state.” However, the 19th century witnessed the peak of
Britain’s colonial era, when India was considered the crown jewel of a huge empire on which, as a contemporary
phrase put it, "the sun never set."
Government
The India the British encountered was not a unified country, but a patchwork of principalities, and colonial control
came gradually through treaties and alliances. British control over India shifted dramatically in the mid-19th
century. In the first half of the century, the British East India Company effectively ran British India as its own
domain, but in 1857 an armed mutiny of Indian soldiers serving under the British flag changed everything. In the
rebellion’s aftermath, the British government took direct control of the administration of India, establishing the India
Office and a secretary of state for India in London, and appointing a viceroy and provincial governors to govern in
India itself.
Expansion
Through the second half of the 19th century, the amount of India's territory under either direct or indirect British
control grew as officials signed treaties with local princes. Under the agreements, the land was considered British
territory but the princes continued to rule, albeit with interference from British officials and under constant threat of
removal if they stepped out of line. Some princes became tremendously wealthy under the British regime; the Nizam
of Hyderabad, for example, became the world’s richest man.
Economy
India’s economy also changed significantly over the century as a result of British influence. The East India
Company established plantations in India to grow commercially-attractive commodities such as tea and cotton for
export. While the British made more Indian land available for agriculture through irrigation projects, the emphasis
on cash crops impaired food production and Indians suffered through several famines in the 19th century. Following
the establishment of the India Office in 1858, the British government improved other aspects of the Indian economy.
By 1904 the British had laid 28,000 miles of railway track, an important avenue of commerce for India.
Cultural
Throughout the 19th century, India's majority Hindu population lived within a caste system that dictated a person's
permanent place in the social hierarchy. Some historians claim that the British, who kept the system in place, took
advantage of it to help their rule. The British brought their medical skills, administrative know-how and legal system
to India along with improvements in transport and agriculture, but the debate continues as to how much these
introductions benefited ordinary Indians outside the ruling class. Meanwhile, the British themselves in India formed
a society that mostly excluded the indigenous population, seeing themselves as superior to Indians and to mixed-race
Anglo-Indians.
Source: http://classroom.synonym.com/british-influence-india-during-19th-century-9012.html