COLONIZATION OF INDIA &

PAKISTAN MOVEMENT
COURSE: PAKISTAN’S HISTORY
SESSION: 3
DATE: 28 AUGUST, 2019
IBA , KARACHI
SA JJAD AHMAD
British Imperialism and Colonization of India
- Discovery of the new world by Europeans in 1492
- Rapid expansion of communication between Americas and Europe
- Same sea navigation made contact with Asia
- The first to arrive in the new world were;
Explorers – seeking discoveries
Rich people
Personal glory
Merchants seeking raw material and trade relations
Clerics seeking to convert savages to Christianity
Imperialism and Colonialism
- Enormous Wealth and relative ease with which it could be acquired led to
increasing competition among European powers for territories in far-distant
lands
- Most of the European powers became empires
- This process was continued for 400 years
- By close to 19th century almost the whole of the world was ruled by Europeans
states.
- Great Britain was the largest and most successful of the imperial powers, but
even small states like Portugal and the Netherlands maintained important
colonies abroad
Imperialism and Colonialism
- The first contact of India with the Europeans came when Portuguese traders reached
India in 1498
- After 1510, Goa in India was made the capital of Portuguese viceroyalty
- Portuguese set up trading posts first on the west coast and then in Bengal
- Spices were main interest, but embroidered textiles made by Bengali craftsmen were
sold in Portugal
- Furniture of European styles was made with local material and exported to Portugal
Before Mughal invasion of 1526, India was divided into several Hindu and Muslim
kingdoms
- East India Company – 1600
East India Company
- Queen Elizabeth I granted over 200 English merchants the right to trade in East Indies
- Spanish and Portuguese were dominant on these sailing routes
- Initially the Company was interested in commercial activities in Southeast Asia
- Looked towards India – a new market – for cotton and silk
- The demand of Indian cloth exported to England increased among the British consumers
- Spices, tea, textiles, porcelain etc.
- By 18th century the company dominated the global textile trade and had its own troops to
guard its interests
- Most of the forces were based at three main stations, Madras, Bombay and Bengal
East India Company
- Battle of Plassey in 1757
- British control of Bengal
- Discord against British started in India
- Late 18th and early 19th centuries – rebellions, insurgencies against British
- By 1833, control of India passed from the EIC to Whitehall though a powerless Mughal emperor
continued to sit on Delhi’s throne
- Indian troops within Company’s army revolted in 1857
- Killed many British soldiers
- In retaliation, Company killed thousands of Indian rebels and civilians without discrimination
- The bloody uprising brought the EIC to an end
British Raj
- Though EIC had governed many for the benefit of few – its shareholders – the new govt of
India, the Raj, was responsible to London
- British govt abolished EIC in 1858
- All administrative and taxation powers, Company’s possessions, assets and armed forces were
taken over by the British Crown
- This was the start of British Raj and the direct British colonial rule over India
- Strategically, the British saw India as the jewel in the crown of the empire, however, by 1930s
the jewel had become less of an asset
- The British tried to divide the two communities in order to rule them
- Many scholars also see the dislocation of the Muslim community after 1857 as a source of
Muslim discontent
British Raj
- British favoured Hindus in education, administration and other spheres
- British promoted democratic institutions which gave Muslims a permanent minority status in
greater India
- The early Muslim leadership did not favour democratic elections where 51 per cent forms the
government
- Muslims were also frustrated and fearful because Hindus were adapted more swiftly to the
Raj’s new political and social order
- In late 19th century British began to examine more carefully the population they were then
ruling
- Objective of British Raj was to train Indians