The British and their East India Company came to India, motivated by political, economic, and social interests. They desired land, raw materials, money, and control. This left the Indians in starvation and poverty, fighting for the independence of their people. British rule served the English with a government designed to control Indians, taxing them when they were dying from famine caused by British economic cash crop policies, leaving remaining Indians illiterate, and never giving them a chance to benefit from trade links. British imperialism had a negative impact on the politics of India because the British taxed Indians even when they were starving, as well as established a government with an army, police force, and justice system …show more content…
Lalvani says that the British helped preserve the environment and animals by opening up parks. However, the British actually cut down forests, causing a lack of water and therefore making the soil high in salt (Doc #7). The soil now was unfit for growing food and, without money to purchase food, Indians starved. Furthermore, Lalvani also claims that both nations benefited from trade links. But, Gandhi says, “British factories make the cloth that make our poverty.” Fabric sold from Bengal to the British dropped from 2 thousand to about 304 when the British could make their own and sell it for cheaper (Doc #6). As a result, “weavers became beggars” (Doc 5). This is significant because English taxes on hand weaved Indian fabrics pushed Indians out of business and into poverty until they were without money for food, nor a way to grow their own. The British ruined forests as well as forced Indians to grow cash crops, ultimately destroying their …show more content…
When the British came to India, they built universities and museums (Lalvani). However, literacy among Indians did not exceed 16% until after they finally gained Independence in 1947 (Doc 9). While the British did help create universities and support education, the literacy rate didn’t increase quickly and significantly until after the British left, showing that the Indians may have become literate sooner if they received independence earlier. Lalvani also claims that Quinine brought to the Indians by the English caused life expectancy and overall health in India to increase. However, document 11 shows that 59 million Indians died from 40 famines while under British rule, the deaths in these famines being the result of forced cash crops. India only went through 18 famines in the span of 600 years before they were ruled by the British (Doc 11). This is significant because the deaths from famine outweigh the effects of Malaria, if not being just as bad. Quinine will not save the
The British improved and modernized India which formed their efficiency that they have today. They established railroads and bridges so people can travel thru their country easier. The British also ingrained a fair trading system between India and British. Some may claim that it was not fair because the Indian textiles were getting sold less and less. From 1790 and so on the sales of Indian textiles progressively declined (Doc. 6).
Before the BEIC, India was one of the wealthiest countries globally. Indian products like spices, textiles, and the country’s precious stones were highly desired, giving them a major role in trade. Once the BEIC took control, India’s wealth diminished greatly. The British put in place taxes on wealthy landowners and on “the trade of all fine and valuable merchandise.” (Document 9)
Most of the governmental systems didn’t help the indians in fact the things Britain put into place for india only made india profitable for britain. While the British believed that they helped India by setting up a government and military system India disagreed. In fact, they believed that britain caused problems in the Indian way of life. An example of this is british imperial rule established the framework for India 's justice system (Lalvani).
They made many changes within the country; Dadabhai Naoroji praises them about in his speech to the London audience in document 18.3. He refers to how the British abolished the religious practice of Sati(when a widow burns herself at her husband's funeral), educated both male and female, gave freedom of rights, and the security of life and prosperity to the people of India. When looking from a British point of view these seem like modern improvements but, actually these were the norms and culture of India. Which Britain had no right to impair. I oppose the harmful, unequal practices, although I believe that India was developed enough to abolish the practices themselve.
All the taxation took its toll on the economic status between the colonists and Britain. Prior to the French and Indian War, the Wool, Hat, and Iron Acts forced Americans to ship materials to Britain to be built, but then later buying the products from them. However mercantilism was soon abandoned when the colonists decided to fight back. The Stamp Act enraged many of the elite colonists, and as Benjamin Franklin states, they wanted to "get it repeal'd" as soon as possible. They chose to boycott, and they chose not to import or consume the product Britain wanted them to, thus the relationship economically between the two places was significantly
Imperialism is when a stronger, larger nation dominates a smaller or weaker nation politically, economically, and socially. Imperialism increased in the 19th century due to industrialization. European industry increased there need for cheaper raw materials and massive markets to sell new, finished products. Europeans also dominated the world with their advanced military weapons, to dominate Africa and other south pacific areas. The powder keg was a huge contribution to all the chaos leading up to the destruction of world war one caused.
This was harmful to the people of India because many of the British taxes made for them was only so Britain could become more rich. The imperialists from far away never cared about the well-beings’ of the
Great Britain not only had colonies in the western hemisphere and the America’s, in fact they had colonies all over the world. One of the most important of these was India. India was a very important part of the economy of the Kingdom for a long time, only becoming self-ruled in 1947 (India). The main export of India before the Napoleonic wars was cotton (Maddison). Cotton was a huge source of income for India and the British Empire.
Throughout the rule of the British in India, Europeans mainly controlled the government and police force, leaving the Indians with no voice and no protection. According to Dr. Lalvani, the British established an efficient administration over 500 million people. While this was beneficial to the British, the Indians had no control over the taxations and laws that affected them (Doc. #2). Since all of these laws and taxes were targeted to help the British, India’s freedom was stolen, as shown in the Rowlatt Act, a law that allowed the government to imprison people without trial.
Dr.Lalvani claims that under British rule, India was modernized, giving the foundation for a government that therefore gave law and order. While this system and others were built, they were built almost entirely for British benefit and even profit. In this new government, Indians had no say in the laws being decided by the British, that were impacting them. The laws were meant to further control Indians, while the British extracted India’s wealth and flood India’s markets with textiles with the help of railroads. Wanting more and more wealth, the British logged forests to create land to grow cash crops which in the end degraded the soil making it more difficult for them to grow.
The British made about 10,000 miles of railroad and about 136,000 bridges that benefited the Indians because they provided the necessary transportation to/from jobs and home. But, the British used the railways to transport goods to Britain to be sold there. Not only that ,but they also started mass production and sold goods for less(Doc 4). Goods like Indigo were very commonly grown in India(Gandhi + Doc 4). Indians were doing tons of manual labor to get raw materials for the British to use, while getting very little to no
The British worked to help preserve the environment and animals (#17).The British destroyed forests and the soil that they farmed on. After a few years the soil was degraded and the quality went down (Doc 7). This shows how even though they worked to preserve the environment, the British were really just tearing up India’s land to farm for their own crops and then ship them back to Britain. The British built 10,000 tracks and 136,000 bridges (#14). They built railways to secure their own British rule in India (#13).Even though they built lots of bridges and railroads for transportation most of it was mainly built to benefit themselves and make sure they kept their rule in
To begin with, it can be observed that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport further than what had already been established. As stated by
The Mughal rule, which roughly extended from 1526 to 1707, was a period when the political and natural environments of much of the Indian subcontinent underwent drastic change. The Mughals had a deep fascination towards nature but also acknowledged their superiority, both as humans and as royals, over it as well as the tribal societies that lived amidst nature. Their constant involvement in warfare led them to look at the forest and animals such as elephants and horses as precious resources; consequently, the military demands of an empire the size of the Mughals’ took a toll on these resources. Extensively engaging with nature for political and social purposes, the Mughals played an important role in transforming the pluralistic landscapes that fell under their empire. But more importantly, they paved the way for the colonial period to extract resources from nature in an intensive way; the impact of their engagement with nature was felt strongly only during the later colonial period.
The British first came to India not only because of the abundance of raw materials, but also the mass potential they seen. The British East India Company, took advantage of the collapsing Mughal Empire, and broke away from their control to flourished their company. In 1857 the Sepoy army rebelled and that caused the British to come in guns blazing and take over the country. The British rule demolished India through, taxation on anything made in India, and the exportation of raw materials, which caused a plentiful amount of famine,and throughout all of this, the British kept most on India uneducated, and those they did educate, most were forced to become interpreters for the benefits it would make in taking over India and keeping the British in control. Political Paragraph British imperialism had a negative effect on the politics of India because of the corrupt justice system, and the utter lack of respect that killed masses of innocent people.