India: The Jewel of Empire

New Delhi:The Jewel of Empire

Treaty of Paris 1763

Self Governing Dominions:

• Canada• Australia• New Zealand• Natal and Cape Colony

‘Crown Colonies’• Also known as ‘dependent colonies’• Usually of commercial or strategic value• The most important of these colonies were in Africa and India

British East India Company• A private company, with the backing of the British government• Settled in the East of India originally, but gradually spread its territory

across the region• Worked in collaboration with local Indian rulers, or Moguls• Established trade routes for tea, minerals, spices, and especially

opium

Robert Clive, leader of the East India Company

Delhi

Indian Mutiny of 1857• Known also as the First Indian War of Independence• Several military units who fought for the East India Company rose up

against the company.• Prisons were stormed, and enemies of the company were freed.• Rioters attacked barracks and British garrison towns, often burning

them to the ground.• 30,000 troops were sent from Britain to crush the rebellion.

Indian Mutiny 1857 (‘The Relief of Lucknow’)

The British Raj

Flag of the British Raj

British Raj• “Raj” means ‘Rule’ in Hindi, and refers to the colonial regime in India• 1858: Following the Indian Mutiny, the East India Company territory is taken over

by the British government. The new territory was known as ‘British India’.• The Raj included British India, as well as about 600 neighbouring states, which

continued to exercise a sovreignity as ‘Princely States’. • Princely States generally maintained local Indian rulers, but were highly

influenced by the economy of British India, and its politics. • Each Princely State formed treaties with British India, deciding terms of policy

and power. Some of the smaller states had almost no autonomous power.• In 1876, the Raj is declared an Empire, and Queen Victoria is named ‘Empress of

India’.

Victoria Memorial, Calcutta

Governance of the Raj• The Raj was governed by a Viceroy, who acted as representative of

the crown.• The British government appointed a governor to each Indian

province.• The official residence of the Viceroy was in Government House in

Calcutta (Kolkata), and later in New Delhi.

Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India 1899-1905

Viceregal Lodge (summer residence), Simia

‘The White Man’s Burden’, poem by Rudyard Kipling (1899)Take up the White Man's burden, Send forth the best ye breed Go bind your sons to exile, to serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden, In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride;By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain To seek another's profit, And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden, The savage wars of peace— Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease;And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought, Watch sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden, No tawdry rule of kings, But toil of serf and sweeper, The tale of common things.The ports ye shall not enter, The roads ye shall not tread, Go mark[14] them with your living, And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden And reap his old reward: The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard—The cry of hosts ye humour (Ah, slowly!) toward the light:— "Why brought he us from bondage, Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden, Ye dare not stoop to less— Nor call too loud on Freedom To cloke your weariness;By all ye cry or whisper, By all ye leave or do, The silent, sullen peoples Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden, Have done with childish days— The lightly proferred laurel, The easy, ungrudged praise.Comes now, to search your manhood, through all the thankless years Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom, The judgment of your peers!

Dynamics of Colonial Rule• The British population in Britain in 1881: 125,000• Population of the British Raj in 1881: 255 million• The Raj introduced an English system of law and punishment• Opened thousands of primary and secondary schools, as well as several major universities,

promoting British social and political structures.• This investment in education led to a generation of Indians highly skilled in British law,

administration etc. A new Indian middle class soon grew, mostly based around the extensive civil service.

• The Regime built one of the world’s largest train networks, connecting the various states of the Raj.

• http://www.britishpathe.com/video/time-to-remember-turn-of-the-century-1896-1902-5/query/india

• http://www.britishpathe.com/video/queen-victoria-at-garden-party/query/india

Construction of ‘New Delhi’• A new model capital built adjacent to the old city of Delhi (i.e. Old

Delhi).• The site was chosen as it was at the centre of Northern India, and

thus most accessible to the different provincial administrations.• Designed to accommodate the colonial government of India• Construction began 1911

New Viceroy’s residence in New Delhi (now home to the President of India)

India Gate, New Delhi

Secretariat Building, New Delhi (Home to the Indian Government’s most important ministries)

Indian influences on Britain• Indian influences came through both returning colonials and Indians• Tea replaced coffee as the most popular beverage• Spicy foods became hugely popular, especially with the upper classes• A wide range of new vocabulary entered English from Hindi, e.g. :

bungalow, bangle, jungle, mantra, pyjamas, sorbet, shampoo, thug, and typhoon.• Moustaches became fashionable in Britain in the late 19th century, in

imitation of Indian Mughals. • 1.4 million British people claim Indian heritage, while a further 1.17

million claim Pakistani heritage.

Britain’s National Dish: Chicken Tikka Masala

Below: Balti, created in Birmingham; right: worcestershire sauce, popularly used in British cooking, and made from Indian ingrediants (mollasses, tamarind spices)