British Colonization and Effet
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The effects of British Imperialism were disastrous for India”, to what extent do you agree with the statement. Refer to the 1858-1914 period in your answer.
Imperialism dates back to antiquity. In the ancient world the idea of imperialism was to create great empires in an attempted to dominate all others by creating a unified system of control. The empire of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire are such examples.
Then came early modern European imperialism (1492-1780), the discovery of new lands such as America brought new opportunities, and imperialism took the form of overseas colonial expansion. Many countries took part in this expansion, rather than one state attempting to unify the world. The countries established political control over territories in Asia and South East Asia and in the New World and parts of Africa and Oceania. Each country attempted to control the trade of its colonies, in order to monopolize the benefits of that trade. India is a clear example of this, the British established the East India Trading Company, its trade focused on bringing tea, silks and spices from the East. By the 19th century, the British saw India as the “Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire.
Then the power of India was handed over to the British government and in 1876 queen Victoria was proclaimed “Empress of India”. This period is referred to as the British Raj, the period of British colonial rule where they ruled most of the Indian subcontinent. It lasted from 1858 until 1947. This is also referred to as the “new imperialism” when European governments scrambled frantically for territory. White people came, therefore, to rule millions in India. The causes of the new imperialism are still debated. Competition for trade, superior military force, European power politics, and a racist belief in European superiority were among the most important.
The economic, political and psychological effects of imperialism on India are equally difficult to determine. Imperialism has proven both destructive and creative: for better or worse, it has destroyed traditional institutions and ways of thinking and has replaced them with the habits and mentality of the Western world. We shall explore in more depth the positive and negative effect of Imperialism in India.
When the British invested into India, they made big contributions the railroad system is an example. British rule modernized India in many respects. The spread of railroads from 1853 contributed to the expansion of business. Companies built rail lines that linked growing regions in the interior with ports on the coast. Its rail system was the third largest in the world and helped make the economy more modern. When the British colonized India they built 40,000 miles of railroad (twice the length of the railway system in England at that time) and 70,000 miles of paved roadway. As a result the British made it much easier to travel across India. The British made other improvements, they built telephone and telegraph lines, dams, bridges, and canals. Another good affect that the British had on India was the jump in agriculture, through large-scale irrigation works. About 30 million acres were put into cultivation. Industrialization had also begun. Great Britain also has to create a bigger military and station them to protect the colony form other forces. This helped India after the independence to keep order and establish the first democracy from a colonized country.
But every good aspect always has a negative side to it. In 1810, India was exporting more textiles to England than England was exporting to India. By 1830, the trade flow was reversed (Cf documents below). The British had put up prohibitive tariff barriers to shut out Indian finished goods and were dumping their commodities in India. Within a matter of years, the great textile centres of Dacca and Madras were turned into ghost towns. The Indians were sent back to the land to raise the cotton used in British textile factories.
By 1850, Indias debt had grown to 53 million pounds. From 1850 to 1900, its per capita income dropped by almost two-thirds. British imperialism did two things: first, it ended Indias development, then it forcibly underdeveloped that country. Indias huge population made it an attractive market for British industry. In the 1880s, for example, about 20% of Britains total exports went to India. By 1910 these exports were worth ÐЈ137 million. India also exported goods to Britain, especially tea, which was drunk or exported on from Britain to other countries. Then there were the human resources. The Indian army was probably Britains single greatest resource. Around 40% of Indias wealth was spent on the army. This army was used by Britain all over the world, including the wars in South Africa in 1899-1902 and the First and Second World Wars. Over 70,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army fought in the trenches (first World War) of the Western FrontЖover 5,000 were killed and more than 16,000 wounded. Indians also fought in Mesopotamia, Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt. In all over 1.5 million men were recruited from India, the largest contingent from the British Empire. It was the backbone of the power of the British Empire
But most of the wealth created was not invested back into the country. From 1860 to about 1920, economic growth in India was very slow – much slower than in Britain or America. India actually started importing food under British rule, because Indians were growing cash crops like cotton and tea to be sent to Britain. Food shortages came about because Indians were growing cash crops. When famine struck in 1876-77 and 1899-1900 the British system of government was completely overwhelmed. In the first half of the 19th century, there were seven famines leading to a million and a half deaths. In the second half, there were 24 famines (18 between 1876 and 1900) causing over 20 million deaths. Official records also show that here were 31serious famines in 120 years of British rule compared to 17 in the 2000 years before British rule. Another negative effect of Imperialism had on India was the breaking up of traditional industries. Prior to colonization, in India there were many skilled workers. Such as shipbuilding, metalwork, glassblowing, and papermaking. As the great Mohandas Gandhi
once said, ” You English committed one supreme crime against my people. For a hundred years you have done everything for us”. When independence came there was a noticeable rise in the unemployment in India, this was because there were very few skilled workers left.
Since gaining independence in 1947, India has struggled to modernize and diversify an economy that was left relatively undeveloped by economic policies under British colonial rule.