The Effects of British Imperialism in India One could approach this topic from two points of view; the British and the Indian. One could choose either party and find very different opinions. When British colonizers first arrived in India, they slowly gained more and more control in India through many ways, the most prominent being trade and commerce. At first, they managed India’s government by pulling the string behind the curtain. However, soon they had acquired complete rule over India, converting it into a true British colony. The British considered Indian civilization to be inferior and implemented their western ways overriding ancient Indian customs. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that British imperialism in India resulted in both positive as well as negative reforms in political, economic and social aspects of its new colony. To begin with, one can observe that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport. They built a great number of bridges, over 40,000 miles of railway and paving an astounding 70,000 miles of road (Doc. 4). They established schools,newspapers and telegraphs for the people of the colonies.All blessings of civilization they could not create for themselves (Doc. 1). Furthermore, the British brought 30 million acres under cultivation with large scale irrigation works, began industrialization, improved sanitation and provided an overall higher standard of living (Doc. 4). With many new establishments and institutions to staff, job opportunities opened up left and right for Indian workers.Their contributions to Indian civilization made famine all but disappear throughout India. Without the British, it’s quite possible India could not achi... ... middle of paper ... ...yway. How can what Britain did be considered good for India? It can’t. At least, not if India’s value is in it’s people. The British did however bring peace to a nation collapsing on itself. And provided India with ‘proper’ education and standards. Communication, transport, industrialization, sanitation all improved and slavery, internal relations conflicts and unacceptable practices all ceased. So Britain’s rule could also be considered the best thing to happen to India. If India’s value were instead measured by western standards considering India before British rule in comparison to after. Everything has it’s price, all that can be truly verified is that British imperialism's impact on India was both positive and negative. It just depends from which side you choose to view it, the colonizers or the colony. Works Cited DBQ 17: Imperialism in India: An Evaluation
One country that had imperialism was India. By the mid-1880s, the British East India Company controlled three fifths of India. The cause of British domination was that the land was very diverse and the people could not unite and that the British either paid local princes or used weapons to get control. Positive effects of imperialistic rule in India were that the British set up a stronger economy and more powerful industries. They built roads and railroads. British rule brought peace and order to the countryside. They revised the legal system to promote justice for the Indians regardless of class. Indian landowners and princes, who still owned territory grew rich from exporting cash crops such as cotton and jute. The British introduced the telegraph and the postal system as a means of communication. These improvements and benefits from British rule eventually lead to Indian nationalism. The exposure to European ideas caused an Indian nationalist movement, the people dreamed of ending Imperial ...
What is pictured when someone thinks of India? Perhaps the manufactured goods, or diverse people. The truth is, however, that until India gained its independence in 1947, it was ruled entirely by British government. The British then proceeded to “improve” India, driving it into a deeper hole. Although British Imperialism in India had some positive effects, the overall political, economic, and social impacts were negative.
Not only did the inequality and separation of the Indian society frustrate the citizens of India, but the imperialism Britain had upon them as well. In the early 20th century, Indian nationalists wanted to take a stand against the British rule and make India independent. The British created unfair laws that created a nationalist movement in India to regain their freedom. He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth.
However, where the is good there has to be bad. British colonization of India had it's drawbacks. As the great Mohandas Gahndi once said " 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 for our own government." At first glance this may seem like a positive effect but Ghandi did not intend it to be. Because even though it was a good thing that England setup a government in India they turned it into a burden because they did not let any natives into the important positions. They "mommied" the Indians if you will. Another negative effect England had on India was the breaking up of traditional industries. Prior to Britain colonizing India there were many more divers skilled labors. Such as shipbuilding, metalwork, glassblowing, and paper making. With the break up there was a noticeable rise in the unemployment India.
Cricket is a British sport which dates back centuries. During the late eighteenth-mid twentieth century British colonization of India introduced this beloved sport. The playing of cricket in India has come to represent British Control over the indian culture, politics, and people from Britain’s first involvement in the region, up to the late twentieth century. Further the use of cricket as a friendly competition between the different populations within India.
"All the leadership had spent their early years in England. They were influenced by British thought, British ideas, that is why our leaders were always telling the British "How can you do these things? They're against your own basic values.". We had no hatred, in fact it was the other way round - it was their values that made us revolt." -Aruna Asaf Ali, a leader of the Indian National Congress. (Masani, quoted in Wood, 32, 1989)
When colonizers come to a colony they use direct control to take over all aspects of life. A foreign style of government is put into place and foreign officials are brought into rule. The colony now has no control of themselves or their land. The colonizers goal is assimilation, or to make the group resemble the culture of the new controller. Before British rule, the Mughal Empire gave did not try to intervene with the local societies and let the people be who they wanted. They “...did not try to intervene in the local societies during most of its existence, but rather balanced and pacified them through administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites”(The Initial Colonization of India and the Later ‘Raj Era’ Reading p.1). Then, in the 1600’s a private company called the British East India Company established their dominance in trading goods from India and Great Britain. This caused more of the British to come to India and they started taking control of the country. Dadabhai Naoroji, and Indian explained “Europeans occupy almost all the higher places in every department of government...Natives, no matter how fit, are deliberately kept out of the social institutions” (Indian Primary Source Packet Doc 2). The British did everything they could to keep the Indians from taking back their power. While in control of the government they
" India was where the riches of the world came from, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. The British needed to dispel the threat of other Europeans in Africa to maintain control of India, and they did so efficiently. They quickly gained control of both the major sea routes to India and then turned their eyes to the rest of the continent. Whether the British were trying to foster public support or prevent another nation from becoming a threat, all British actions in Africa were directly or indirectly linked to India. The British were motivated by their desire to become powerful, and they skillfully combined enterprise and conquest to create a globe spanning empire centered around the wealth of India.
Iyer , L, 2004, The Long-term Impact of Colonial Rule: Evidence from India. [Online] available at [accessed on 12 November 2010]
In 1857 the British had invaded the nation of Hindustan (India). Many feel that if it were not for the British Empire, India would still be an under developed country. The British established a government system that before did not exist. It was a three level system including the imperial government located in London, the central government located in Calcutta, and later on provincial governments scattered throughout the regions of what was known as the British Raj1. Alt...
Even though they controlled much of India they didn’t directly interfere with government decisions because commercial affected many political decisions. Britain did attempt to keep William Carey from preaching in India because they were afraid of causing unsettled feelings within the Hindu and Muslim groups, thus harming business and profit. Ironically what they tried to avoid with William Britain inadvertently did themselves by pushing Western culture on the Indian people and expanding the company too far.
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
By the year 1857 the British had established complete political control of India. As Western education was introduced and missionaries eroded Hindu society resentment among Indian people grew and it was joined by unease among the old governing class when the British decided to formally abolish the Mughal Empire.
The British administered India for a period of about two centuries and brought about revolutionary changes in
With major control over India, the British used a combination of firepower & guile to consolidate their power over the country by expanding from their base areas along the coast into the interior (Duiker 31). Some territories were also taken over the privately run East India Company, which at the time was given authority to administer Asian territories under British occupation, while others were ruled by local maharajas (Duiker 31). British governance brought order and stability to a society that had recently been wrecked by the wars from the different empires (Duiker 31).