Transcript British Imperialism In India

The British East India
Company set up trading posts
at Bombay, Madras, and
Calcutta.
At first, India's ruling
Mughal Dynasty kept
European traders under
control. By 1707, however, the
Mughal Empire was
collapsing.
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During the 1700’s and 1800’s the East India Company slowly took
control of India
As the Mughal Empire grew weak, the East India Company grew in
economic and political strength and began to build its own military
force
The military force mainly consisted of sepoys, Indian soldiers, led by
British commanders
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The British wanted many of the raw
materials India produced - cotton,
indigo, jute (burlap), spices, sugar,
and tea
These material were shipped to
Britain for use in British factories –
finished products were then shipped
around the world to British colonies
There were some advantages of the
British invasion – railroads,
education, hospitals, common
language,
There were disadvantages too – low
wages, few rights, no say in
government
• 96% of the army of 300,000 were
native to India.
• In the military, Sepoys could not be
promoted to high ranks and the pay was
miserable. British did not respect Indian
cultural or religious traditions and
beliefs.
In 1857, new cartridges were issued to Indian troops of the British East Indian
Army to be used in the Rifles.
The cartridges were rumored to have been greased with cow or pig grease; as such,
they were forbidden to the Indian troops because of their religious beliefs.
Muslims believe that pigs are unholy, and Hindus believe that it is unholy to kill a
cow.
The cartridges of this time required a soldier to tear open the cartridge with his
teeth, and pour the powder and bullet down the barrel of the gun. This process
would have caused the Sepoys to get soul polluting grease directly into their
bodies.
After refusing to use the new cartridges, a whole regiment of Sepoy troops were
imprisoned by the British.
Other Sepoys attempted to free these prisoners and it snowballed into a revolt
across all of northern India.
There were many massacres where hundreds of Europeans were killed by
Sepoys who were bent on revenge and on kicking the British out of India.
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The British suppressed the
rebellion and abolished the
British East India
Company
India was no longer a
“Protectorate” but was a
full fledged colony of
England - 1858