Effects of British Colonial Rule in

India

By: Lauren FarringtonAPWH

Unit 21 PBA

Background

What made India vulnerable to colonization?

What were the British interested in India?

Beginning of the fall of the Mughal

Empire in 1707 In 1757, the East India Company

allied with France and led troops into India, ultimately winning.

From 1858 onwards, East India Company would be the dominating force in India.

What made India vulnerable to colonization?

Continued

Battle of Plassey, where the East India Company was victorious over Indian troops.

British Expansion in India

India was a wealth for raw materials

(plantation crops, mostly) and natural resources that could be sold by the British or used in factories/production.

Large population (300 million) could be a lucrative market for British goods.

What were British interests in India?

Short-Term Effects

Effects of British TroopsEffects on Caste System

British troops ended local warfare British troops cleared central India of bandits Caste system outlawed. Sanitation and public health improved. Schools and colleges were founded

Increase in literacy New technology

Example: Britain laid the world’s 3rd largest railroad network in India.

Positive

Continued

A British-laid train station photographed in modern India.

Evolution of railroads in India.

Britain’s policies forced India to produce raw materials

for Britain and to buy British goods. British imports into India were cheaper than India’s local

products, hindering local production and increasing India’s reliance on Britain.

Emphasis on cash corps=famines in 1800s. Sepoy Rebellion

Thousands killed, both Indian and British Indian competition with British goods was prohibited.

Example: India’s handloom textile industry almost put out-of-business by the forced importation of British textiles.

Negative

Sepoy Rebellion

Continued

Long-Term Effects

PositiveNegative

Railroads ultimately helped India to develop a

modern economy Given a foothold in world trade Many Indians speak English. Over time, a modern road network, telephone

lines, telegraph lines, bridges, and irrigation canals encouraged India’s modernization.

India’s relationship with Britain connected it to the modern world even after colonization.

Led to Indian nationalism, unifying the country.

Positive

Loss of self-sufficiency. Many sovereign Indian kingdoms destroyed India was divided several different times in

different ways that spurned acts of terrorism. Example: 1905-Partitionof Bengal

Hindu section and Muslim section

Negative

Maps depicting percentages of Hindus and Muslims. Some areas overlap, showing why the Bengal partition didn’t work and led to conflicts.

Works Cited

Classzone.com, . "British Imperialism in India." Riverside Local School District. ClassZone. Web. 9 Feb 2014. Bartholomew, John George. Prevailing Religions of the British Indian Empire, 1909: Hindus. 1909. Map. Wikipedia, Oxford. Web. 9 Feb 2014. Donaldson, Dave. The Evolution of India's Railroad Network, 1869-1930. 2010. Graphic. National Bureau of Economic ResearchWeb. 9 Feb 2014. Hayman, Francis. Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey. 1762. Painting. HistoryToday. Web. 9 Feb 2014. Kanick, T. "Positive and Negative Effects of British Imperialism in India.” Period7-3Imperialism10. Tangient LLC. Web. 9 Feb 2014.McCurry, Steve. Train Station, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. 2010. Photograph. Steve McCurr'ys BlogWeb. 9 Feb 2014. RM, . Growth of British Power in India. N.d. Map. TalkTalkWeb. 9 Feb 2014.

Sepoy Rebellion. 2010. Photograph. UNCWeb. 9 Feb 2014.