India Under British Rule

1. India Under British Rule

2. India Under British Rule • British, Dutch, and French companies sought to expand their profitable trade into India during the eighteenth century • “Company Men”: Persuaded Indian rulers to allow the Europeans to establish trading points at strategic points along the coast by whatever means necessary • Sepoys: Indian troops that belonged to private armies, which could be bought • British raj: The rule over much of South Asia between 1765 and 1947 by the East India Company and then the British government

3. India Under British Rule • In 1818, the East India Company controlled an empire with more people than in all of western Europe and fifty times the population of the colonies the British lost in North America

4. India Under British Rule • The transformation of British India’s economy was a double-edged sword • New jobs were created thanks to expanding trade (opium, coffee, tea) • However, India now bought manufactured cotton textiles from Britain instead of creating their own

5. India Under British Rule • Rebellions by religious groups and the impoverished masses were common during the early 19th century • The most dangerous of these groups was the sepoys, who numbered 200,000 in 1857 • Issues arose among the sepoys in regards to who was recruited to join their ranks and where they were being forced to serve

6. India Under British Rule • The largest issue was the implementation of a new musket, which required soldiers to tear open the ammunition with their mouths • The ammunition packets were greased with animal fat • Hindus were offended by this because they viewed cows as sacred animals • Muslims were offended by this because pigs were believed to be unclean

7. India Under British Rule

8. India Under British Rule • This cartridge opening procedure was quickly changed but it was too late, as a Hindu revolt began in 1857 • Muslim sepoys, peasants, and discontented elites joined the revolution • The rebellion was put down by 1858 but it had a lasting impact on Indian nationalism • This event was called the Sepoy Rebellion or the Sepoy Mutiny

10. India Under British Rule • The Sepoy Rebellion started India on a path towards independence • A new centralized government was created • A new period of economic growth began • India developed a new national consciousness

11. India Under British Rule • Following the Sepoy Rebellion, India became a royal colony, under direct rule of the monarchy • The East India Company no longer governed the region • Queen Victory assured all Indians that they would have equal protection of the law and the freedom to practice their religions and social customs • Queen Victoria was proclaimed the “Empress of India”

12. India Under British Rule • The Indian Civil Service (ICS) was a powerful and efficient bureaucracy that controlled India • Roughly 1000 men who graduated from Oxford or Cambridge Universities in England • Visited the villages in their districts, heard lawsuits and complains, and passed judgments • Beneath these individuals were thousands of Indian officials and employees • An British subject could take the examination to become a member of the ICS but the test was only available in England, so it essentially excluded Indians • Racism was the main reason for the small number of Indian officials in the government

13. India Under British Rule • The British invested millions in harbors, cities, irrigation canals, and other public works • Their primary goal was to allow India to export as many raw materials as possible • Cotton fiber, opium, tea, silk, and sugar • This hurt many poor Indians, especially women, who had previous sold finished goods

14. India Under British Rule • The British also promoted the introduction of new technologies into India • Steamboats, railroads, and telegraph lines quickly spread across the sub-continent • India had the largest rail network in Asia and the fifth largest in the world • At first many Indians opposed railroads because the trains mixed people of different castes, faiths, and sexes

15. India Under British Rule • The ease of travel helped spread cholera • Spread through water contaminated with human feces • Became a major issue because there were many sacred Hindu bodies of water that devoted worshipers bathed in • As sewage systems improved the number of deaths slowly declined

16. India Under British Rule

17. India Under British Rule • Ironically, the education that the British helped spread throughout India led to many Indians deciding that their home would be better off without the British there at all • Many of these new nationalists came from the middle class • These educated and ambitious people were angered by the obstacles that British rules and prejudices put in the way of their advancement

18. India Under British Rule • The Indian National Congress met in 1885 • Wanted to find a larger role for Indians in the ICS • Sought to cut the military budget so that funds could be used to help the poor masses • Promoted unity among the country’s many religious and social groups but most members were upper-caste, upper-class, Western-educated Hindus

20. Hawaii and the Philippines, 1878-1902 • By the 1890s, the United States had a fast growing population and industries that produced more manufactured goods than they could sell at home • Merchants and bankers began to look for new export markets • The political mood was expansionist and imperialist

21. Hawaii and the Philippines, 1878-1902 • Americans had been looking westward towards the Pacific • In 1878 the harbor of Pago Pago in Samoa was obtained as a coaling and naval station • Pearl Harbor in Hawaii also became a naval port in 1887 • Six years later, American settlers deposed the Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani and offered the Hawaiian islands to the United States, becoming a territory in 1898 • Immigrant workers from Japan, China, and the Philippines soon outnumbered the native Hawaiians

22. Hawaii and the Philippines, 1878-1902 • The Philippines sought independence from Spain in 1898, led by Emilio Aguinaldo • This rebellion had a good chance of succeeding, as the already weakened Spanish empire was already fighting a revolution in Cuba • However, the U.S. went to war against Spain in April of 1898 and quickly overcame Spanish forces in the Philippines • President McKinley did not plan on annexing the Philippines but felt it was necessary in order to keep them from falling under the control of Japan or Germany • The United States purchased the Philippines from Spain for $20 million

24. Hawaii and the Philippines, 1878-1902 • Emilio Aguinaldo again tried to gain independence for Filipinos • Despite protests from many anti-imperialists in the United States, the government decided that protecting the nations interests was more important the giving freedom to the Filipino people • In rebel areas, a U.S. army of occupation tortured prisoners, burned villages and crops, and forced Filipinos into “reconcentration camps”. • Americans viewed the Filipino people the same way Europeans viewed their colonial subjects • The rebellion cost the lives of 5,000 Americans and 200,000 Filipinos

25. Hawaii and the Philippines, 1878-1902 • After the end of the insurrection, the U.S. attempted to soften its rule with public works and economic development projects • New buildings, roads, harbors, and railroads were built • In 1907 Filipinos were allowed to elect representatives to a legislative assembly (although ultimate authority still rested in the appointed American governor) • In 1916, the Philippines were the first American colony to be promised independence, a promise fulfilled thirty years later