British Imperialism In India

An Evaluation of Imperialism in India

“The reason why the sun never set on the British Empire: God wouldn’t trust an Englishmen in the dark.” Princeton Professor Duncan Spaeth once claimed turning the poetic way of declaring the British as the feared and mighty ruler of the world against them. European imperialism in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries resulted in the carving up of areas of Africa and Asia into vast colonial empires. This was the case for British colonialism in India. As imperialism, or a policy of extending a country 's power and influence through diplomacy or military force, spread the colonizer and the colonies viewed imperialism differently. By 1857, the British, through the East India Company, directly ruled two thirds of India. The remaining third was overseen by Indian princes who paid tribute to the British. The British not only dominated the Indian economy, sending profits back to Britain: they also imposed their values on the Indian people by preventing Indian soldiers from occupying high ranking positions in the army and introducing social and land reforms. Thus, even though the British government was not engaged in direct imperialism, the British East India Company still had a strong, controlling hand in the Indian way of life.

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