IMPERIALISM IN
INDIA
For over a hundred years, the British Empire ruled as an imperial power in India. While India was not the nation’s only colony, it was its most important. Some even called India the “Jewel in the Crown” of the British monarchy because of its trade routes and natural resources. During the Age of Exploration, Europeans pushed their way toward the East.
In order to become more involved in the spice trade in India
and Southeast Asia, a group of English merchants formed the East India Company (EIC). They received a royal charter from the English monarchy that gave them control over British trade in India. As the Mughal Empire lost power, the EIC became involved in politics and raised its own armies. The company’s political power grew over time, and by the mid-1800s, the British ruled the majority of the Indian subcontinent through the EIC. Many Indian people did not like the company’s rule, and the business faced mutinies and resistance. These rebellions showed the British government that its indirect rule over India through the EIC wasn’t working. In 1858, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act, transferring rule over India to the British monarchy. The period of direct rule was known as the British Raj.
During the time of the British Raj, India changed, not always for the better. Culturally, many of the British who came to serve the British Empire in the colony believed that it was their duty to make the Indian people more like Europeans. Governmentally, Indians had their own practices and knowledge, but the new imperial power didn’t allow them to take jobs that were high up in the military or government.
This meant that Indians had little say in how the
British ruled their land. Instead, the British developed the country in ways that benefited them and made India more like England. They brought the English legal system and the English language. They built railroads, canals, and roads that allowed many goods, like sugar, coffee, and wheat, to be moved across the country. With the railroads came telegraph lines and new dams and bridges. In the cities, education and public health improved as new colleges were built, and some people had better access to doctors trained in Western medicine. These changes also brought struggles for many Indian people as the British didn’t allow Indian small businesses to trade in the ways that they once had, causing many to lose their ability to survive on their work and crops.