Modern India

1. Modern India

2. British Rule in India: 1600s: The British East India Company • King James I of England sent a personal envoy, Sir Thomas Roe, to the court of the Mogul emperor Jahangir in 1614. • The emperor was incredibly wealthy and was not interested in trade with Britain because he couldn't imagine the British had anything he wanted. • Roe was deliberately difficult to deal with at first because earlier envoys had been too accommodating and had not gained the emperor's respect. • East India Company was able to establish operations in India.

3. 1700s: • Mogul Empire was in a state of collapse by the 1720s. Other European powers were competing for control in India, and sought alliances with the shaky states that inherited the Mogul territories. • The East India Company established its own army in India, which was composed of British troops as well as native soldiers called sepoys. • The East India Company gradually strengthened its hold, even instituting a court system. British citizens began building an "Anglo-Indian" society within India, and English customs were adopted

4. 1800s: • 1857-58: Indian Mutiny erupted when sepoys rose up against the British. • Uprisings spread throughout British India. It was estimated that less than 8,000 of nearly 140,000 sepoys remained loyal to the British. The British dispatched more troops to India and eventually succeeded in putting down the mutiny. Many sepoys who had surrendered were executed by British troops. • Following the Indian Mutiny, the East India Company was abolished and the British crown assumed full rule of India.Reforms were instituted, which included tolerance of religion and the recruitment of Indians into the civil service • The British government never actually intended to take control of India, but when British interests were threatened the government had to step in. The result of the new British rule in India was the office of the Viceroy.

5. Mohandas Gandhi: Father of India1869-1948 • The Martin Luther King before Martin Luther King • Known as 'Mahatma' (great soul) • Leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule • His doctrine of non-violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely influential (Mandela, King)

6. After university, he went to London to train as an attorney • He returned to India in 1891 and in 1893 accepted a job at an Indian law firm in Durban, South Africa. • Gandhi was appalled by the treatment of Indian immigrants there, and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them. • During his 20 years in South Africa he was sent to prison many times. Influenced primarily by Hinduism, but also by elements of Jainism and Christianity as well as writers including Tolstoy and Thoreau, Gandhi developed the satyagraha ('devotion to truth'), a new non-violent way to redress wrongs. • In 1914, the South African government conceded to many of Gandhi's demands.

7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/gandhi_mohandas.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/gandhi_mohandas.shtml

8. Non-Violence • Acts of Protest and Persuasion • include speeches, public communications, petitions, symbolic acts, art, processions (marches), and other public assemblies • Noncooperation • Include labor strikes, economic boycotts, civil disobedience, and tax refusal • Nonviolent Intervention • include occupations (sit-ins), blockades, fasting (hunger strikes), truck cavalcades, and dual sovereignty/parallel government. • October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi is observed as International Day of Non-Violence.