Chapter 12 The New Imperialism

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Chapter 12The New Imperialism

• Section 4 The British Take Over India

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• Setting the Scene
• Ranjit Singh ruled the large Sikh empire in
  northwestern India during the early 1800s. He had
  cordial dealings with the British but saw only
  too well where their ambitions were headed. One
  day, he was looking at a map of India on which
  British-held lands were shaded red. "All will one
  day become red!" he predicted.
• Not long after Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the
  British conquered the Sikh empire. They added its
  100,000 square miles to their steadily growing
  lands. As Singh had forecast, India was falling
  under British control.

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• After the decline of the Mughal Empire in the
  mid-1800s, the British East India Company gained
  control of India

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• The British were able to take over India by
  exploiting the diverse people and cultures of
  India

India is the seventh largest country in the world
- approximately 3,287,000 sq km (1,281,930 sq
mi) 18 languages and 800 dialects Hindu,
Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain religions
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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• The main goal was to make money, but it also
  introduced western education, religion, and law

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• The British worked to end slavery and the caste
  system, and outlawed sati (suttee)

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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• Discontent began when sepoys were required to
  serve anywhere, and when a law was passed
  allowing Hindu widows to remarry

Sepoys of the Bombay, Bengal and Madras armies
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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• In 1857, new rifles using cartridges greased with
  animal fat were issued to the sepoys, who refused
  to use them

A section through the .577" Enfield-Pritchett
cartridge. The infantryman would tear off the top
of the paper cartridge with his teeth and pour
the gunpowder inside down the gun barrel.
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I. East India Company and Sepoy Rebellion

• When the Sepoys were disciplined, it set off the
  Sepoy Rebellion

An 1859 lithograph depicts the storming of Delhi
in 1857 by rebelling Indian sepoys, beginning the
Sepoy Rebellion
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II. British Colonial Rule

• In 1858, Parliament ended the rule of the East
  India Company and set up a colonial rule

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II. British Colonial Rule

• Britain saw India as a market and a source of raw
  materials, and built up Indias infrastructure

Indian jute
Indian cotton
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II. British Colonial Rule

• After the Suez Canal opened in 1869, British
  trade with India increased greatly

1869 Opening of the Suez Canal
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II. British Colonial Rule

• New farming methods and medicines lead to rapid
  population growth, and in the late 1800s famines
  swept India

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II. British Colonial Rule

• British rule also brought peace and order,
  promoted justice, and improved travel and
  communication

A French artist's rendering of Calcutta in the
early 19th century.
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III. Different Views on Culture

• Some Indians urged following a western model of
  progress, others felt the answer to change lay
  within their own culture

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III. Different Views on Culture

• Ram Mohun Roy combined both views and because of
  his influence, he is often hailed as the founder
  of Indian nationalism

This statue of Raja Rammohun Roy stands outside
Bristol Cathedral.
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III. Different Views on Culture

• The British disagreed among themselves about
  India - a few admired Indian culture but most
  British viewed India with contempt

In an essay on whether Indians should be taught
in English or their native languages, English
historian Thomas Macaulay wrote that A single
shelf of a good European library is worththe
whole native literature of India and Arabia."
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IV. Indian Nationalism

• During the years of British rule, a class of
  western-educated Indians emerged who dreamed of
  ending imperial rule

In 1835, Thomas Macaulay articulated the goals of
British colonial imperialism most succinctly "We
must do our best to form a class who may be
interpreters between us and the millions whom we
govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and
colour, but English in taste, in opinions, words
and intellect." 
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IV. Indian Nationalism

• In 1885, nationalist organized the Indian
  National Congress, known as the Congress party,
  which called for greater democracy

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IV. Indian Nationalism

• At first, Muslims and Hindus worked together,
  but in 1906 Muslims formed the Muslim League to
  pursue their own goals

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• Looking Ahead
• By the early 1900s, protests and resistance to
  British rule increased. Some Indian nationalists
  urged that Indian languages and cultures be
  restored. More and more Indians demanded not
  simply self-rule but complete independence. Their
  goal finally would be achieved in 1947, but only
  after a long struggle against the British and a
  nightmare of bloody conflict between Hindus and
  Muslims.