For the past sixty-seven years, the citizens of India have embraced their country’s independence all the while seeking to regain their past. Prior to this renewed sense of freedom, India had belonged to the British Empire. From 1858 to 1947, the British government claimed India and its inhabitants as a colonial possession. Before the British Empire laid claim to the vastness of India, the British East India Company helped to oversee the transfer of the Kohinoor Diamond from the Sikh Empire to their motherland in 1851.
Fought over for centuries and claimed by many, the owner of this diamond only yields it to another at the cost of an empire. Believed to have originated from the depths of an ancient Indian mine, the Kohinoor Diamond is a missing link to an illustrious past of a fledgling modern nation. Since its independence, Indians, both in the Republic of India and those who reside throughout the Commonwealth, have demanded the return of the sacred jewel. A demand the British government has continually refused. For the British, the diamond is also a reminder of their renowned past when the sun never set upon their domain. Forever covered in the blood of its past owners, men and nations will continually fight one another, rather with words or war, just for the opportunity to hold the cursed gemstone.
Brief History of the Gemstone
Against the backdrop of war with an ever expanding colonizer, a young dethroned king finds himself spirited away to a foreign land. Standing face to face with his conqueror and new sovereign, the Queen of England, the young king surrenders the Kohinoor Diamond into the hands of his victor, a spoil of war. Not long after, in 1877, Queen Victoria obtains the title Empress of India. This is the historic...
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...tish Studies 48, no.2 (2009): 391-419.
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In the prologue learn see that John Herncastle, a soldier in the English army, killed the three Brahmin priests who guarded the Moonstone in order to gain possession of it, while in India. Although he denies killing them we can infer that he did kill them because he was the only one there. Here is where we see both greed and selfishness for the first time in the novel, because he wanted the diamond for himself and was ready to do anything to get it.
7. Holdich, Sir Thomas. The Gates of India. London: The MacMillan Company, 1910. [Document 9]
James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
For centuries, India was a country of separate dynasties and kingdoms, which often led to a wide variety of cultural and ethnic tensions and continuous change of power for many of the kingdoms. They viewed each other as enemies, which created an opportunity for countries, such as England, to invade and eventually rule much of the country. Britain colonized the Indian subcontinent (present-day countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) from 1757 until 1947 (Iyer 2). Not all areas were directly under British control, in other cases Indian rulers governed them, and power was split between the two (Iyer 2). For the British, India was strategically placed in terms of geography, manpower, natural resources, and land, as well as many other sectors (Maddison 1).
The 'Secondary' of the Web. The Web. The Web. 11 Mar. 2015. The 'Secondary' of the http://www.diamondfacts.org/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D128%26Itemid%3D134%26lang%3Den Howden, Daniel. A. "Exclusive: The Return of Blood Diamonds - Africa, World - The Independent."
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
" 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.
As a result, many diamond miners and their families lack the very basic necessities that we as Canadians take for granted each and every day, such as clean running water, and proper sanitation. This extreme sense of impoverishment links to the movie “Blood Diamond,” as a Mende fisherman named Solomon Vandy was captured and enslaved to work in the diamond fields following the Revolutionary United Front’s invasion of his small Sierra Leonean village of Shenge. Moreover, Solomon is forced to work in extremely dangerous conditions, while being grossly underpaid. Thus, when Solomon discovered the remarkable diamond while working in the diamond fields, he immediately buried it underground for safekeeping, as he came to the realization that, that specific gemstone may be his last chance to get himself and his family out of the re-occurring poverty cycle. Also, the diamonds that are discovered after days of individuals being hunched in mud, digging, washing, searching the gravel, tend to end up on women in the form of an exquisite piece of jewelry such as a ring or necklace. Although to the knowledge of very
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. The adage of the adage.
The mutiny, regarded by many as India's first War of Independence, was to have important consequences and the structure of British India was to be re-organised extensively. Increasingly, India came under direct Crown rule as the British East India Company was dispossessed of its functions and, in 1877, Queen Victoria was crowned Empress. Despite the severity of European reprisal as each territory had been regained and its subsequent defensive proposals of military alteration, a measure of conciliation had been introduced to administrative policy. Integration of the higher castes and princes was now considered important, land policy was revised and plans for radical social change were shelved.
The web page points out the controversy behind the De Beers organization involved in Diamond trade across the globe and accusing it stating that it buys illegal diamonds from African leaders and rebels who in turn use the money they get from the diamond sale to fund wars in their countries. The page also highlights some of the challenges facing the South African-based multinational company and the reason behind the shrinkage of their shares in the market. In response to this accusations, DE beers management opted to cast diamond into elements that show love and loyalty increasing the dominance of diamonds in the lucrative luxury market. Mr. Epstein, a managing director, referred to the allegations as a coup which is meant to destroy the company’s
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”.
It combines social, cultural, and political history with the hardships and goal of a travel book. With Kim, a young white boy, sahib, at its center and his friend and mentor the Lama, we see the world of India in the nineteenth century as it is ruled by Great Britain. The story unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. It is set after the Second Afghan War which ended in 1881, but before the Third. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India.
One morning, a well-known gentleman went into a bank in London, and was received immediately by Mr. Alexander Holder, head of the bank. He asked for a loan of fifty thousand Pounds. Mr. Holder asked him to present collateral to cover that large sum of money; the man showed him a crown that belongs to the country. Knowing the risk, Mr. Holder agreed to lend the gentleman that large sum of money if he pays it back in a few days. After the gentleman left Mr. Holder decided to keep the crown all the time near by him, so he took the crown to his home in Streatham. There he lived with his only son Arthur and his niece Mary who was an orphan. He told them about his story with the crown of diamonds. When the father was going to sleep, Arthur asked for two hundred pounds. He refused to give him thinking his son was spoiled by his rich friends who had nothing to do except watch horses. Before going to sleep, he went to check that all windows and doors were locked. He saw Mary at a side window at the hall. She closed it quickly, and Holder noticed that she looked anxious. After he went to sleep, he heard some noise that woke him up; he waited until he heard it again coming from his sitting room. He jumped out of his bed and saw his son holding the crown broken from the side and three diamonds were missing. In grief, he accused Arthur of being a thief and a liar. Meanwhile Mary came in and seeing the crown fainted. Arthur asked if he could leave for five minutes but Holder refused and called the police to take his only beloved son to jail. The police searched the house but could not find anything and advised Holder to get the help of Mr. Holmes the famous detective.
Rakhee Moral, “In Time of the Breaking of Nations The Glass Palace as Post-Colonial Narrative” Amitav Ghosh: Critical Perspectives ed. Brinda Bose (New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2003)152.