British colonization of India (1858-1947)
- India was a source of agricultural resources for Great Britain. Products would be grown in India and exported to Great Britain for low costs, benefiting the economy of Great Britain. These products included rubber, jute, tea, spices, sugar, and cotton, among many others. These raw materials were often processed British factories and exported for heavy profits. Local residents of India were used to supply the labor necessary to produce these raw materials. India was a very populous country at this point, and therefore had plenty of laborers who the British were able to subjugate into producing raw materials.
- British influence in India started with the East India Company, which operated between 1600 and 1874. This British owned company started as a trading company which would import raw materials from India to Britain. Their influence grew in India as more trading posts were set up, and eventually the company started claiming new territory through war. This continued until the company had established primary control over the Indian sub-continent by 1820. In 1857, strong rebellions across India led to the removal of the East India Company as the ruling force in India, which was replaced by direct rule under the British crown. This was the formal beginning of the Indian Empire of Great Britain. India was divided into provinces, each ruled by a British appointed governor and British military.
- A common mindset in British India was that of the “white man’s burden”, as coined by Rudyard Kipling. This mindset relied on the idea that the Britsh were more civilised people who could bring order and prosperity to India, which was before an uncivilised and barbaric (and non-Christian) area. The spread of Christian ideals and values was an important justification for British control in India, as it was justified that British rule would help spead Christianity and therefore uplift the Indian people. British rule was largely hated in India for obvious reasons – exploitation of labor, rejection of traditional culture, harsh punishments for disobedience, etc. By 1947, public sentiment had changed on colonialism to the point that Great Britain removed themselves from a ruling position over the Indian sub-continent. Great Britain still managed to harm local peoples even on the way out, as they recklessly divided Bangledesh and India in an unequitable way which has stimulated conflict in India and what is now Pakistan to this day.
Sources:
How Christianity spread in British India: Crusade of the Clapham Sect
https://www.britannica.com/event/British-raj
Cypher, James M. (2014) [First published 1997]. The Process of Economic Development (4th ed.). Routledge. p. 97.