Effects of
Colonialism/Imperialism on India
Pair-Share Activity: What is he
saying?
• Dadabhai Naoroji, former president of the Indian
Congress, described the effects of British
imperialism on India in 1887 as:
• “To sum up the whole, the British rule has been---morally, a great blessing; politically, peace and
order on one hand...on the other, materially,
impoverishment....The natives call the British
system...’the knife of sugar.’ That is to say there is
no oppression, it is all smooth and sweet, but it is a
knife, nevertheless.”
Negatives
Famines in India
Negative
Madras Famine 1876-77
Major Famines in India 1860-1900
1860-61 - Western United Provinces.
1865-66 - Bengal, Bihar, Orissa. Orissa worst hit.
1876-77 - Maharashtra and South India.
1896-97 - Maharashtra and South India
1899-1900 - Gujarat and Rajasthan
Features of Famine in late Nineteenth Century India
1. Rain failure.
2. Hoarding by traders and urban moneylenders. Export of grain.
3. Attacks on grain shops and stores. Upsurge in robberies.
4. At normal harvest time, Government demands tax.
• Many peasants refuse to pay.
• Leads to coercion by tax-officials, forcing richer peasants to pay up.
• Poorer peasants have land confiscated, or mortgage or sell property - jewelry,
farm implements, land - to moneylenders to pay taxes.
• Richest peasants and moneylenders enlarge their holdings.
5. Government establishes relief works, to which poorest peasants go. Middling
peasants, and higher castes without resources starve.
6. Destitute start to wander in search of food. Some receive charitable relief in
towns.
7. Suicides, parents sell or kill children, deaths (often of disease).
Famine Victims, 1877
British Policy Towards Famine
1. Commitment to free trade, following economic theory of
Adam Smith.
2. Belief that famine corrected over-population, following
theory of Thomas Malthus.
3. Belief that free relief promotes idleness and saps initiative,
following doctrines of the Utilitarians. People must labour for
their subsistence.
4. ‘Famine-proofing’ through building of irrigation canals
5. Famine Codes – drawn up in 1880, but only implemented
effectively after 1900.
Famine
Relief
Works –
Hyderabad
State
Famine Primary Source
There was a devastating famine in India, 1876-1878. Lord Lytton, viceroy of India,
opposed any efforts to intervene in the famine as violating the principles of laissez
faire economics. In The Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith had written that
“famine has never arisen from any other cause but the violence of government
attempting, by improper means, to remedy the inconvenience of death.” Lytton
opposed government charity because it would diminish the work ethic of those
receiving it. The only charity he allowed was given out in small amounts and
included difficult requirements for those receiving it.
Lytton appointed Sir Richard Temple a Famine Delegate to control government
expenditures. He set up a government program where those in need could get work
as manual labor for railroad and canal projects. However, the workers had to travel
far away from their homes and live in camps in order to do this work. They were
given food, but the prescribed ration was 1627 calories per day. By comparison, the
ration provided to prisoners at Buchenwald, a Holocaust concentration camp, was
1750 calories.
Primary Source Continued
There were calls for a Famine Fund to counteract future famines. However, Lytton
opposed financing it with an income tax, which would affect the rich, and instead
supported a land tax on the peasantry. This was rejected, so Lytton pushed taxes on
small traders and on salt. In the end, the Famine Fund wasn’t even spend on famine
relief, but rather was used to reduce the tariff on cotton goods imported into India
and on the war in Afghanistan.
In 1876, at the beginning of the famine, the proclamation of Queen Victoria as
Empress of India was celebrated with a week-long feast for 68,000 officials.
Meanwhile, a British journalist estimated that 100,000 people died during the course
of the festivities.
The death toll of the famine is hard to calculate. One British demographer provides
a figure of 7.1 million deaths.
- Adapted from Mr. Carroll’s synopsis of Late Victorian Holocausts (2001) by Mike
Davis
Famine Victims 1899-1900
Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, 1898-1905
“There has never been
anything so great in the
world’s history as the British
empire, so great an
instrument for the good of
humanity.”
- Lord Curzon, British
Viceroy of India, 1898-1905
Pair-Share Activity
• How do the actions of the
British during the Indian
famines contradict Lord
Curzon’s quote on the previous
slide?
Loss of Political Control
Negative
Loss of Political Control
• The British government could take control of a state
whose Indian ruler was deemed unfit or who had
died without a male heir.
• Under this policy in 1856, Governor-General
Dalhousie annexed Awadh, the largest, richest, and
most loyal of the Indian states.
• Dalhousie also changed the old Mughal ruler’s title
from emperor to king and ordered that the king’s
son would inherit only the tile of prince.
Pair-Share Activity: This was a
complaint in Africa as well. Why did
this set the stage for problems when
granted independence?
• Gandhi offered this complaint about British
imperialism:
• “You English committed one supreme crime
against my people. For a hundred years you
have done everything for us. You have given
us no responsibility in our own government.”
Treated as Second-Class Citizens
Negative
Pair-Share Activity: What is he
saying?
• Dadabhai Naoroji said about the social effects of
British imperialism in 1887:
• “The British occupy almost all the higher places in
every department of government...Natives, no
matter how fit, are deliberately kept out of the
social institutions started by Europeans....All the
Europeans do is live off India while they are here.
When they go, they carry all they have gained.”
Treated as Second-Class Citizens
• There was little interaction between the
British and Indians.
• The British believed themselves to be
superior because they were descended from
Greek and Roman civilization, practiced
Christianity, and according to a British
textbook demonstrated: “a reckless
devotion to great causes, an unflinching
pursuit of untrodden paths.”
Treated as Second-Class Citizens
• The British believed themselves to be more
intelligent than the Indians.
• Discrimination was common.
• In department stores, Indians would wait while
Englishmen who had come in after them were
served.
• Wealthy Indian families would be denied entrance
into first-class compartments on the railways.
• Socialization between the two was frowned upon.
Treated as Second-Class Citizens
• For an Englishman to court or marry an
Indian woman, it was considered a
betrayal of his race.
• It was considered even worse for an
Englishwoman to engage in such
activity.
• In tea rooms, English and Indians would
usually be seated separately.
Second-Class Citizen
•
British held all political and
economic power
•
British restricted Indianowned industries
•
Racist attitudes of most British
officials and missionaries
threatened Indian traditional
life
Second-Class Citizen
• Second-class citizens in their own
country.
• Even Indians with a European
education faced discrimination.
• Barred from top posts in the Indian
Civil Service.
• Paid less than Europeans.
Pair-Share Activity: How does this relate
to what we learned about Apartheid?
•Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian nationalist and first Prime
Minister
• “In India every European, be he German, or Pole or
Rumanian, is automatically a member of the ruling
race. Railway carriages, station retiring rooms,
benches in parks, etc. are marked 'For Europeans
Only.‘ This is bad enough in South Africa or
elsewhere, but to have to put up with it in one's
own country is a humiliating and exasperating
reminder of one's enslaved condition.”
Cultural Changes
Negative
Pair-Share Activity:
• What is Sahib saying about the
British imperialism in India?
• What historical events is he
referring to?
• Moulavy Syad Kutb Shah Sahib, Indian Muslim leader in 1870 said the following
about the negatives of British imperialism:
• “The
English are people who overthrow all religions. You
should understand well the object of destroying the
religions of Hindustan; they have for a long time been
causing books to be written and circulated throughout
the country by the hands of their priests, and exercising
their authority, have brought out numbers of preachers
to spread their own tenets: this has been learned from
one of their own trusted agents...The British ordered the
Brahmans and others of their army to bite cartridges, in
the making of which fat has been used. The Muslim
soldiers perceived that by this expedient the religion of
the Brahmans and Hindus was only in danger, but
nevertheless, they also refused to bite them. On this the
English now resolved on ruining the faith of both...”
• It is now my firm conviction that if these English continue
in Hindustan they will kill every one in the country, and
will utterly overthrow our religions...Under these
circumstances, I would ask, what course have you decided
on to protect your lives and faith? Were your views and
mine the same, we might destroy them entirely with very
little trouble; and if we do so, we shall protect our
religions and save the country...All you Hindus are hereby
solemnly adjured, by your faith in Ganges, Tulsi, and
Saligram; and all you Muslims, by your faith in God and
Koran, as these English are the common enemy of both, to
unite in considering their slaughter extremely expedient,
for by this alone will the lives and faith of both be saved.
It is expedient, then, that you should coalesce and slay
them...”
Cultural Changes
• In 1813, Christian missionaries were given free
access to India.
• English became the official language for education
instead of Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit.
• This angered the religious leaders in India.
• To the British, as English scholar T.B. Macaulay
wrote: “a single shelf of a good European library is
worth the whole native literature of India and
Arabia.”
Cultural Changes
• The sepoys, or native soldiers in the Indian army,
were ordered not to display religious marks on
their faces and to wear leather stockings and hats.
• Hindus are forbidden from wearing leather as they
consider the cow sacred.
• Some Hindu sepoys were forced to travel overseas
even though the Hindus believed this could
endanger their caste.
• This led to revolts in 1806 and 1824.
Social and Cultural
• The few educated Indians were expected to
be loyal to the British.
• They were taught to appreciate the culture
and opinion of the British.
• They would spread the English culture to the
masses.
• Education became the monopoly of the rich
and urban Indians.
Social and Cultural
• Schools were taught only in English.
• Only a few English schools and colleges were
opened in 1857 instead of multiple
elementary schools.
• The British ignored the education of the
masses.
Economic Problems
Negative
Economic Problems
• The main aim of the British was to transform
India into a consumer of British products.
• Because of this policy, Indian textile, metal
work, glass, and paper industries were soon
out of business in India.
• By 1813, the Indian handicrafts lost both
their domestic and foreign markets.
Economic Problems
• Economic ruin of lower and middle class
Indians.
– Thousands of Indians had just left peasant farm
work to work in small factories—put out of work
(large number of Bengali women).
– Forced to return to the land or emigrate as
indentured labor
– 1861-1865, growing cotton, not food
• White supremacy—Indians made second-class
citizens in their own country—prohibited from
certain all-white facilities and sections of cities
(cantonments).
Economic Problems
• There was a massive import of machine made clothes
from the British factories in England to India.
• The Indian weavers who made textiles by hand could not
compete against the cheaper prices of the machine made
British textiles.
• The British did not have to pay any duties or taxes and
were given free entry into India.
• But the Indian weavers had their textiles taxed heavily
when they were sent out of the country.
• Because of this India went from being a exporter of
clothes to become an exporter of raw cotton and an
importer of British clothes.
Economic Problems
• Indian weavers could not compete with the
machine-made British textiles.
• One weaver said: “we cannot complete with
the blankets being sold in the markets.”
• Another said: “ we are forced to sell our
products in villages because of limited access
to urban markets.
Economic Problems
• Many profits drained from India go to benefit Britain
• The improvements mentioned above were paid for by Indian
taxes, (one of reasons for American Revolution)
• Famines caused by British production of commercial crops
instead of food
• British manufactured goods sold cheaper than Indian handmade goods
• Taxes collected in cash, bad for poor, increases debt and
poverty
• Separation of ruler from ruled – Indians treated as inferiors
socially, morally and culturally
– British segregated society further, “Europeans Only” signs for public
facilities
Economic Problems
• The Indians were heavily taxed for anything
that was built within India.
• Direct and indirect taxes affected the lives of
the Indian people who could not meet their
daily needs, because they had to provide the
landowners and collectors their share in the
produce.
Economic Problems
• Cash Crops: Tea, coffee, indigo, opium, cotton,
jute, sugarcane, and oilseed
• Indians were forced to grow these crops but could
only sell to the British.
• These crops were not a food source for them.
• Food grain production went down.
• Some of these crops turned the land infertile.
Economic Problems
• Focus on cash crops produced
famines.
• Racists attitudes: Indians treated
as inferiors
• Top jobs go to British
• British try to replace Indian culture
with British culture
Economic Problems
• Impact of Colonialism
– Railroads move cash crops and goods faster
– British control political and economic power
– Cash crops resulted in loss of self-sufficiency and
caused famine
– Indian culture is disrupted due to racism and
missionaries
– Britain sought to “modernize” India
Negatives for British
What was Negative for British?
• Paid for infrastructure (roads, telephone,
railroads, etc.) development
• Paid for education improvement
• Money spent on military and government in
India
Positives
Pair-Share Activity: What is he
saying?
• Dadabhai Naaoroji, former president of the Indian
Congress said about the benefits of British imperialism:
• “Let us speak out like men and proclaim that we are loyal
to the backbone; that we understand the benefits British
rule has conferred upon us; that we thoroughly appreciate
the education that has been given to us, the new light
which has been poured upon us, turning us from darkness
into light and teaching us the new lesson that kings are
made for the people, not people for the kings; and this
new lesson we have learned amidst the darkness of
Asiatic despotism only by the light of the free English
civilization.”
Positives: Social and Cultural
Positives: Many British families moved to India as
their permanent home. They imported European
culture with them. They established factories,
hospitals, and schools in India
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BAGDASARIAN
Social and Cultural
• The British brought the ideas of liberty, equality,
freedom, and human rights to India.
• These ideas led to the reform movements of Raja
Ram Mohan Roy, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Aruna Asaf
Ali, and Pandita Ramabai.
• These movements looked for social unity.
• Many legal measures were passed to improve the
status of women.
• For example the practice of sati was banned in
1829.
Social and Cultural
• The spread of the English language and western
education helped Indians adopt modern, rational
democratic, liberal, and patriotic outlooks.
• New fields of knowledge in science, humanities,
and literature were now open to the Indians.
• English became the language of educated Indians
and helped to unite them politically.
• It gave Indians the opportunity to study in England
and learn about the workings of democratic
institutions there.
Social and Cultural
• The Indians were taught the Enlightenment
ideas of John Locke and Jean Jacques
Rousseau---liberty, equality, fraternity,
human rights, self-government
• Western thinkers like Max Mueller and Annie
Besant encouraged vernacular languages and
literary works to instill a sense of pride in
Indian heritage and culture.
Theosophical Library –
Madras, 1913
Social and Cultural
• Important institutions were created that became the
epicenter of the study of Indian culture, languages, and
literature.
• Translated ancient writers so the world could read their
works
• Calcutta Madarsas founded in 1781 by William Hastings
• The Asiatic Society of Bengal founded by William Jones in
1784
• The Sanskrit College founded by Jonathan Duncan in 1794
• Fort William College founded by the Wellesley Family in
1800
Social and Cultural
• The role of the press became important in the
arousing of political awakening and exchange of
ideas.
• The newspapers and journals gave opportunities
to share ideas and problems.
• Novels, drama, short story, poetry, song, dance,
theatre, art, and cinema were used to spread
views and express resistance to imperial rule.
• They promoted the feelings of self-confidence,
self-respect, awareness, and Indian patriotism.
Social and Cultural
• In 1856, widow remarriage was legally permitted.
• In 1872, a law made it okay for Indians of different
castes to marry.
• In 1929, the Sharda Law was passed to prevent
child marriage.
• The law made it illegal to marry a girl below 14
and a boy below 18.
Pair-Share Activity: How do you think the British
rationalized making all of these positive reforms, but
still discriminating against the Indians?
• Sir Reginald Coupland in 1945 wrote about the
benefits of British imperialism:
• “British rule brought with it from the West certain
standards of humanity that Indian society had not
reached. Early action was taken to stop
infanticide (the killing of female babies)...The
slave trade was ended and the owning of slaves
forbidden...One result of the new order was a
steady rise in the value of India’s export trade.”
Social and Cultural
• Women were getting better
education opportunities.
• Women took up professions
and employment outside their
homes.
Social and Cultural
• Rise of a new middle class in India
• New opportunities for a small group of
Indian
• Acted as the agents and intermediaries
of the British traders and made huge
fortunes
• Received English education and became
new elite
Pair-Share Activity: Do you think the positives
outweigh the negatives? Why or why not?
• Romesh Dutt in 1902 wrote about the benefits of
British imperialism:
• “Englishmen...have given the people of India the
greatest human blessing---peace. They introduced
Western education. This has brought an ancient
and civilized nation in touch with modern thought,
modern sciences, and modern life. They have
built an administration that is strong and efficient.
They have framed wise laws and have established
courts of justice.”
Positives: Political Changes
Political Changes
• Introduction of new law courts
• New government officials manned by
the educated middle class Indians
Pair-Share Activity: What is he
saying?
• Dadabhai Naaoroji, former president of the Indian
Congress said about the benefits of British imperialism:
• “Let us speak out like men and proclaim that we are loyal
to the backbone; that we understand the benefits British
rule has conferred upon us; that we thoroughly appreciate
the education that has been given to us, the new light
which has been poured upon us, turning us from darkness
into light and teaching us the new lesson that kings are
made for the people, not people for the kings; and this
new lesson we have learned amidst the darkness of
Asiatic despotism only by the light of the free English
civilization.”
Positives: Infrastructure
Infrastructure
• The world’s third largest railroad network was a major
British achievement.
• Railroads enabled India to develop a modern economy
and brought unity to the connected regions.
• A modern road network, telephone and telegraph
lines, dams, bridges, and irrigation canals
• Sanitation and public health improved.
• Schools and colleges were founded, and literacy
increased.
• British troops cleared central India of bandits
• End to local warfare among competing local rulers.
Bengal Medical Service,
1860
Positives for India
•
•
•
Great Britain laid the
world’s third largest railroad
network in India
Railroads brought unity to
disconnected regions in
India
Modern road
network
■ Telephone and telegraph lines
•
Dams, bridges, canals
•
Sanitation and public health
improved
• Schools/
colleges founded
• Truces between
local warring rulers
in India
Positives: Trains and Railway Lines
• Railway lines were
developed in India
because of trade.
• This made it much easier
to transport goods from
and to different places in
India.
Infrastructure
• 1837: First Railway known as the Red Hill
Railroad Line
• 1853: First Passenger Railway
• 1853: First Telegraphic Line from Calcutta to
Agra
• 1853: Introduced the Postal Service
Benefits of British Rule
• Pax Britanica – law and order creates political
unity previously unknown in India
• Best railroad system in Asia, 4,000-40,000 miles
• National Postal and telegraph system
• Canal system irrigates millions of acres
• Public health measures against cholera, smallpox,
etc. lower death rate
• Famine relief system aided millions when harvests
were poor
• New schools at all levels – English is used in higher
levels of ed. – study ideas of democracy and
nationalism
• Equality before law regardless of status
• Industrialization, shipping and banking facilities
expanded
It was important for the
British to have a strong
network of
transportation and
communication in India.
They designed India’s
railroad system, brought
telegraph and telephone
technology, a postal
system, news reporting,
and banking.
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Chartered Bank of
Calcutta,
1915
Pair-Share Activity: Do you think India
benefitted more from European imperialism
than Africa? Why or why not?
• J.A.R. Marriott in 1932 wrote about the benefits of British
imperialism:
• “British brains, British enterprise, and British capital have changed
the face of India. Means of communication have been developed.
There are a great number of bridges, more than 40,000 miles of
railway, and 70,000 miles of paved roads. These testify to the skill
and industry of British engineers. Irrigation works on a very large
scale have brought 30 million acres under cultivation. This has
greatly added to the agricultural wealth of the country.
Industrialization has also begun. India now has improved sanitation
and a higher standard of living. It has a fine transport system and
carefully thought-out schemes for relief work. Because of these
things famines have now almost disappeared.”
Positives for British
Positives Effects for British: What
did the British get?
• To bring raw materials, especially cotton, to ports
for shipment to England.
• To bring manufactured goods from England for sale
in an expanding Indian market.
• British-owned Indian industry expanded from 1880
to 1914, but not Indian.
• Spread British language, customs and Christian
religion
• Took many artworks – sculpture, paintings and
other Indian artifacts - that can be seen in many
British museums today
Pair-Share Activity: Do you agree or
disagree with Gandhi? Why or why not?
• In his book Indian Home Rule in 1938, Gandhi
asked the question “Why do you want to drive
away the English?” His reply was:
• “...Because India has become impoverished by the
Government. They take away our money from
year to year. The most important posts are
reserved for themselves. We are kept in a state of
slavery. They behave insolently towards us and
disregard our feelings.”