In 1627, the Mughal Emperor Jahangir granted the British East India Company permission to build a fortified factory at the principal Mughal port of Surat. Within a decade, however, the factory at Bombay became the headquarters of the Company. Eventually the region was divided into the three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Although each of the regions funtioned independently, they were still responsible to the Court of Directors in London. Through their efforts, the Company garnered huge profits generated by a system of triangular trade that saw English gold and silver coins traded for Indian goods which were then utilized in China to subsidize purchases of commodities there.
Generally, historians consider Robrt Clive's victory at the Battle of Plassey, in 1757, as being the effective inauguration of the British Raj domination of India. It would take additional victories over the French at Wandiwash in 1760, and Pondicherry, the following year, however, for English hegemony to be complete. British rule in India lasted nearly two centuries, matching the longevity of the Mughal Empire.
India had been exposed to world trade for centuries, but never the exploitation it would experience at the hands of Britain. Under the imperial control of the East India Company, an ever increasing number of small Indian states were forced to pay subsidies to the Company for military protection. Independent states, not annexed by the British, maintained their status by allying themselves to the colonial power and paying tribute for their common defense.
The lessening of Company profits that resulted from corruption, as well as a need to recoup debts generated by military efforts, produced a need for higher revenues. Peasant landowners, required to pay their taxes in cash, increasingly had to turn to moneylenders who seized much of this land for nonpayment of loans. This, coupled with land speculation, resulted in large-scale land ownership and a signinficant decrease in small holdings. Additional problems resulted from extensive logging and intensive deforestation programs begun in an effort to pacify the native population. The desired effect of ecological destruction, then, was intended to transform the Indian peasantry into a farming society.
1857 SEPOY MUTINY
Increased dislocation along with a collapsing of the subsistence ecomony produced a period of social unrest. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, rebellions occurred in various areas of the subcontinent, culminating in the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. The causes of the revolt are numerous. Hindu troops objected to the recent addition of Gurkha, Sikh, and lower-caste soldiers to their ranks. In addition, the economic policy of the Raj had a debilitating effect on the familes at homes causing further unrest among the Sepoy troops. But, the final catalyst for the revolt centered around the use of animal grease on the cartridges utilized by the newly issued Enfield rifles. In order to load the new rifles, soldiers had to bite off the end of the cartridges For both Islamic and Hindu soldiers, this practice violated religious ritual taboo. Early in 1857, three regiments were disbanded because they refused to participate in this practice. After eighty-five Sepoys, stationed at Meerut, were imprisoned for disobeying orders to load their rifles, the remainder of the regiments mutinied on May 10, 1857. This contingent, then, marched to Delhi and announced the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, as the ruler of all India.
By June, nearly 90,000, or 70 percent of the Bengal Army's Sepoy force had joined the mutiny. During the early stages of the revolt, the British were unable to repond effectively to the widespread uprising, and suffered heavy casualties. After major losses at the Kanpur garrison and Lucknow, the British Army, along with loyal Sikh and Gurkha forces, were able to regroup and put down the rebellion. Despite the extent of the rebellion, Indian forces were unable to generate a coordinated nationalist effort which significantly contributed to the failure of the rebellion.
Crown Rule
In response to the 1857 Revolt, an Act of Parliament replaced the East India Company with a Secretary of State for India who would be directly responsible to the British Cabinet. By November 1858, Queen Victoria conferred on the Governor-General of India the title of viceroy. The main focus of the Queen's proclamations, as well as the acts of parliament, was that of "divide and rule." In this way, the crown successfully secured accomodations with the princes and landlords, allowing them a level of autonomy the ensured their loyalty. Additionally, a systematic reorganization of the army produced a redistribution of that force to prevent any further collusion. Once these ends had been met, the Raj turned its attention to altering the commercial system and the development of a colonial economy.
Colonial exploitation necessitated the development of a transportation system to facilitate the flow of British ready made goods, and the export of Indian raw material. Although construction of the railroad began in the period, shortly before the Sepoy Mutiny, improvements in the system following the rebellion significantly altered the interior of India as new towns came into existence specifically for the purpose of transporting Indian resources to market. Additional enlargments to the infrastructure of India came in the form of new roads, as well as improvements of the communications system and the harbor at Bombay.
British economic policies further worsened the situation for India's poor. Increasingly, village artisans were squeezed out by competition from English machine-made goods. The destruction of the Indian craft industry forced large numbers into poverty, relegating them to working the land. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Indian agriculture shifted from foodstuffs to cotton to supply the English textile industry. The transfer to staple production, coupled with a drought in the 1870s, however, resulted in widespread famine throughout India.
Indian National Congress
Aspects of British colonialism manifested itself in a number of ways throughout India. The spread of western civilization, at least in the eyes of English elites, required a complete transformation of conquerored societies to raise them from the depth of savagery. Although some learned individuals recognized that India had a long tradition of literature, art, science, and philosophy, they regarded these influences as stagnant and not relavant for future development. Attempts at Christianization had failed miserably and education seemed to be the viable alternative. Initially, educational efforts operated under the asumption that instruction of the Indian elite would eventualy trickle down to the lower classes. When the fallacy of the "filtration theory" became apparent, the system was expanded to educate the general population, or at least to make secular education desirable enough that more Indians would participate.
There had been a number of attempts throughout history to place all of India under the reulership of one power. Although some of these efforts proved nominally successful, India by its very nature as a region of numerous diverse cultures proved inhospitable to stable political order. Under the sway of British imperialism, however, India, essentially for the first time in its history, came under the power of one government that not only imposed a significant level of unity, but that also established an efficient administrative method. This new polity was further strengthened by the establishment of railroads, a postal system, and improved communication systems. With the insertion of westernized education, a new class of Indian emerged as the mediators between the conquerors and the rest of society, These newly educated elites used their newly acquired knowledge to advance into government posts as lawyers, businessmen, and teachers.
Although the original intent of this Anglicanized liberal education was the eventual purification of the Hindu way of life, it nevertheless provided a common ground whereby an educated class of Indians, from disparate cultural groups, could effectively combat British imperialism. In contrast to the hopes of the English, then, Hinduism survived the onslaught of an educational system that focused on its so-called barbarous tradition, producing a Hindu revival.
In addition to the solidification of Hinduism, Indians, indoctrinated with western ideals of justice and freedom, and disillusioned by increased discrimination that the English validated with the doctrine of Social Darwinism, sought new ways to address political reform. Although initially intended as a measure to address indictments against British leaders who refused to allow Indians personal control over their own affairs, the Indian National Congress, established in 1885, eventually became the force behind the rise of Indian nationalism.
Early nationalist efforts were moderate in nature, but eventually fractured and another faction, that was totally opposed English rule, assumed control . This extremist group sought to unite westernized elites with the uneducated by appealing to the unification of political ideas with past Hindu glory. While the moderates promoted Hindu-Muslim cooperation, the extremists advocated anti-Muslim activity insisting that collaboration would undermine Hindu cohesion. Although the extremist movement proved short lived, it did give rise to the Muslim League, and paved the way for new nationalist leaders such as Mohandas Ghandi, Rabindrath Tagore, Jawaharal Nehru, and eventually Indian independence on June 11, 1947.
