...trading company. For other uses, see East India Company (disambiguation). British East India Company Company flag after 1801 Former type Public Industry International trade Fate Dissolved Founded 1600 Defunct June 1, 1874 Headquarters London, England Colonial India Imperial Entities of India Dutch India 1605–1825 Danish India 1620–1869 French India 1759–1954 Portuguese India 1510–1961 Casa da Índia 1434–1833 Portuguese East India Company 1628–1633 British India 1613–1947 East India Company 1612–1757 Company rule in India 1757–1857 British Raj 1858–1947 British rule in Burma 1824–1942 1765–1947/48 Partition of India 1947 v t e The British East India Company was an English and later (from 1707) British joint-stock company[1] and megacorporation formed for pursuing trade with the East Indies but which ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent. The East India Company traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium. The Company was granted a Royal Charter in 1600,[2] making it the oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies. Shares of the company were owned by wealthy merchants and aristocrats. It was an example of an English joint stock company.[3]. The government owned no shares and had only indirect control. The Company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own private armies, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions.[4] Company rule in India effectively...
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...Introduction UK’s invasion of India had different kind of strategy than we saw in history books. It was not with guns or army but it was with power of wealth. The East India Company was founded by British merchants and traders to trade with India. The mostly traded goods were items like spices, tea and cloth at first. In addition to goods like that mentioned above, English traders mostly traded raw materials. These materials were then become finished goods in England then traded back to India with expensive prices. According to some history researchers, the government of England did not take control of India; it was the East India Company that took over India. England became masters of trade in the India region while using worldwide connections of their own to make themselves very rich. While making themselves very rich, they thought of getting a security for their company. Best idea would be using their wealth and power to have their own personal militias. British people were volunteered to be militias at first but later on, company hired local Indian people who worked for the British. The reason behind these locals working for British is that; they would get paid better and better opportunities than what they could get from locals. This applied for over hundred years. Obviously the British realized it was more profitable to run some parts of the country and government got more involved and decided to take over. British kept getting bigger in India, after a while, they started...
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...1 . Describe major aspects of British Colonialism in India and its influence on the Indian population . The British rule over India changed the course of history in India. The British came to India at the start of the seventeenth century. This was the time when the British East India Company was established in India to break the Dutch monopoly over spice trade. With time the East India Company increased its power and started to administer the country. However its policies were disliked by Indians and together they revolted against the company. This led to the downfall of the company and the administration of India went directly under the Queen. By 1800, the Mughals had been reduced by British Military power to its former greatness. During the next few decades, the British sought to the control over the Indian sub-continent, expanding from their base areas along the coast into the interior. Some territories were taken over directly, first by the East India Company and later by the British crown; others were ruled indirectly through their maharajas and rajas. Not all of the effects of the British rule were bad. British governance over the subcontinent brought order and stability to a society that had been rent by civil war. By the early nineteenth century, British control had been consolidated and led to a relatively honest and efficient government that in many respects operated to the benefit of the average Indian. One of the benefits of the period...
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...Opium has been around for over 5,500 years. The Sumerians in the Near East used to call this plant "Hul Gil" or joy plant, apparently referring to its pharmacological properties of bringing about a chemically induced state of euphoria. Over the millennium, the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) made its way towards the East. In the 1800's India, under British colonial rule was a major producer of opium. Opium trade, during that period was not illegal. Britain, through the East India Company had the monopoly in opium trade. n the late 1920's, Thailand was importing most of the opium in required. Back then, opium smoking was tolerated much like tobacco smoking is tolerated today. In the early 1930's, a British adviser to Thailand's Ministry of Finance developed a plan for the legal production of opium by hill tribe people in the provinces of Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The aim then was to by-pass having to purchase expensive opium from India. It is no wonder that Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces produced a large amount of opium. At present, tourists still think that Thailand produces prodigious amounts of the stuff. Since Thailand banned opium in the year 1959, hill tribe people were given a chance to replace their crops with other high-value crops such as cut flowers and sub-tropical fruits. The current area planted to opium in Thailand is but a mere fraction of what it used to be in the past. Most of the opium and heroin that is apprehended in...
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...british were the first to go to india in 1600s. The mughal empire was falling apart during this time. The east india company was gaining economic power over india and was the biggest company in the world. It controlled all trade from britain to asia, and had economic control of india. India has huge amounts of resources. The british were proud of their contributions to the indian culture. For example they used indian labor and resources to make products. And they had the world's third largest rail network. Indian life and culture was disrupted by the british. British became wealthy by exploiting indian labor. Because of this indians faced poverty and racism. Indian food crops were exported while others were converted to cash crops Imperialism can be...
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...1. The French and Indian War (world war one) The French and their allied Indian friends fought the British and their colonial partners for control of the land west of the App. Mountains. *Seven Years War Players - France vs. England …. Prussia sided with England…. Prussia was fighting Austria ….. The war was fought in three places, Europe, India, and the Americas Austria, France, Sweden, and Russia were sided together along with the Mughal, Saxony (a small portion of the Holy Roman empire) and Spanish empires - the other side England, Prussia, Portugal, Hanovers, Iroquois Confederation England wins - Treaty of Paris (1763) Spain lost Florida to England France gave Spain portions of Louisiana and a part of the mouth of the Mississippi British got the Caribbean Islands and French lands in the Ohio Valley and lands east of the Miss. River. The French were supposed to move into Canada The war broke England and the King and Parliament needed money (here comes taxes) **keep in mind** Our ancestors in the colonies had larger bodies, we weighed more, our babies lived longer, our people lived longer, we were richer, and we paid fewer taxes, than the people back in England. 2. The Proclamation of 1763 After winning the French and Indian War the British King would not let the Colonials move into the land west of the App. Mountains. We start hating the British! 3. Quartering of Troops The King required the People to provide supplies and housing for British Troops 4. Writs of...
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...India was greatly desired by other countries. It had plentiful natural resources, such as tea, indigo, coffee, cotton, jute, and opium. The ruling empire in India at the time, the Mughal Empire, prevented other countries from taking over, however, the Mughal Empire was collapsing and lost power after the Seven Years’ War (Beck, 357-358). It was after the war when Britain gained control over India by the Treaty of Paris (The, 7)(Sarah, 1). Britain was then able to create the British East India Company to make profit from all the resources India had to offer. The company ruled over India, and they even had their own army of Indian soldiers called sepoys. British rule helped India get new, advanced technology and improved daily life, although, it also disrupted the people’s traditions and caused many problems (Beck, 357-358). India was affected by imperialism in a negative way politically and economically, but also in a both positive and negative way socially. Imperialism made a negative impact on India politically. Britain controlled the entire government, and the...
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...The Indian Experience Wk. 4 By the early 19th century, Britain dominated India and the surrounding waters. India became the crown of the British Empire. The First Half of the Nineteenth Century, It took generations for the British East India Company to slowly conquer India, a project that had not been planned from the start. Slowly, states were brought under British 'protection', then direct rule. Many princely states survived, self-governed but subject to higher British authority. British India was a patchwork of provinces, small tributary states, and large tributaries. The British East India Company squeezed its provinces and tributaries to pay for its expensive wars. Peasants deserted the land in response; by the 1830s, demand for Indian exports of Indigo, cotton, and opium was slumping and land revenues falling. Logging lead to deforestation. In addition, the Indians constantly but unsuccessfully revolted. This culminated in the Sepoy Mutiny / Indian Uprising of 1857. The British East India Company made heavy use of troops recruited in India, the Sepoys, including Muslims and Hindus. These men typically came from the warrior caste. Rumors spread that animal grease was used on the newly issued rifles exposing them to ritual pollution. This was unacceptable to the troops due to religious restrictions. Delhi was the center of the revolt, along with some other cities. However, the British retained control of Bengal and Punjab and now recruited forces of Sikhs...
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...By the early 18th century, the British East India Company had a strong presence in India with the three main stations of Fort St. George in Madras, Fort William in Calcutta and Bombay Castle in western India. These stations were independent presidencies governed by a President and a Council, appointed by the Court of Directors in England. The British adopted a policy of allying themselves with various princes and Nawabs, promising security against usurpers and rebels. The Nawabs often gave them concessions in return for the security. By then, all rivalry had ceased between the British East India Company and the Dutch or Portuguese. The French had also established an East India Company under Louis XIV and had two important stations in India – Chandernagar in Bengal and Pondicherry on the Carnatic coast, both governed by the presidency of Pondicherry. The French were a late comer in India trade, but they quickly established themselves in India and were poised to overtake Britain for control.[2][3] The Carnatic Wars The War of the Austrian Succession marked the beginning of the power struggle between Britain and France and of European military ascendancy and political intervention in the Indian subcontinent. In September 1746, Mahé de La Bourdonnais landed off Madras with a naval squadron and laid siege to the port city. The defences of Madras were weak and the garrison sustained a bombardment of three days before surrendering. The terms of the surrender agreed by Bourdonnais provided...
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...Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and the British controlled much of Malaysia. Most of the major powers in the world wanted some influence over China and India, which led the British to take over Burma. Britain and Russia fought over territories in Afghanistan and Asia, while the United States expansion was mostly capturing new territories and making them into new states (Tignor, et al, 648). During this time Britain had a lot of control over Indian colonies. Many wanted to follow in Britain’s footsteps and have control in a country, but many also saw the unhappiness brought forth by British rule. After the Indian Rebellion authorities changed and modernized India and all of their public works. The Indians however, did not want to be taken under British rule or into British life, but they had to be governed in some way. After changing the government, the economy needed to be changed for more stability. The British wanted to make India a more stable territory (Tignor, et al, 648-50). The British set forth to modernize India in many ways including the government, transportation and communication. These changes would eventually help to unify India like it hadn’t been before. The modernization began under the rule of Governor-general Lord Dalhousie of the East India Company. He left office in 1856 claiming that he was responsible for unifying India with railroads and telegrams. Only a year after him leaving office the Indian’s erupted into rebellion. Fortunately for Britain their new ways...
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...out of one’s heart. Reminding one of Lord Kubera’s Alaka, the realm of Yakshas, Kinnaras and other preternatural beings, the entire neighbourhood is a world of its own. But the romantic onlooker will find tremendous heritage entombed under the sheath of malignance and stink that characterises today’s north. The locality’s first tryst with history occurs in the year 1639, when the idea of a city was ingrained here; thereby making North Madras the seed from which the entire Metropolis of today’s Chennai blossomed. But few people know about the hormonal slant of one man, Francis Day, that ultimately led to the founding of Fort St.George at its present location. Francis Day was an English merchant and a representative of the British East India Company. He brokered a deal with Venkatadri Nayak for setting up a trading outpost. He was smitten by a Portuguese noblewoman who resided in San Thome, a Portuguese establishment, and therefore wanted to set up the outpost as close to her as possible. This humble trade post, burgeoned into a fort and, at the behest of merchant Beri Thimappah, soon bustled with native merchants and craftsmen who traded and served their sahibs inside the fort,...
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...from their competitors as the West Indian sugar interest and the British farming landowners needed as well. By the end of the 18th century, the British fabric production was adequately recognized enough to no further need any protection from competitors. The increasing Lancashire cotton producers felt that high prices for plantation crops and homemade grain added to wages that were higher. Subsequently, it resulted in having greater costs and profiting less. Since the newer manufacturing bourgeoisie profited from slavery and used the money to further industrialize, they began to feel held back older, more outdated mercantile finances. Through the inspiration of scholars such as Adam Smith, free trade became the leading philosophy as the companies developed into an essential economic strength in the country. The need for change in the first half of the nineteenth century lead to the Reform Act of 1832 and ultimately to the final achievement, which was the manufacturing bourgeoisie all started with the elimination of British colonial slavery and then finally ended with the revoking of the Corn Laws and the Sugar Act of...
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...Mining was a profitable business during British colonial times. However, although the British did indeed support coal, gold, silver, iron ore and steel mining, they did not look favorably upon mining other metals such as lead. They believed that India's development of metallurgy would lead to production of weapons for the "natives," a potential threat to British rule. The British implemented the Arms Act in 1878 to outlaw Indian ownership of firearms and limited Indians from mining and working metals that might "sustain it in future wars and rebellions." (14) Several mines were actually closed down under British rule. IV.4 Coal Mining Large-scale commercial coal mining in India began in 1774 under the East India Company in the Raniganj Coalfield along the Western bank of the Damodar River. The introduction of steam locomotives in 1853 made possible the effective transportation of coal from the mines to urban centers and ports (15). India's output of coal rose from 2,203 thousand metric tons in 1890 to 30,695 in 1947 (16). Coal mining proliferated during and after World War I; from 1920 to 1930, national coal output increased from 18,250 to 24,185 thousand metric tons (16a). However, coal mining declined during the early 1930s, when the output dropped by more than 4,000 thousand metric tons in just three years. The facts collaborate with other sources that claim Indian industries declined along with Britain's economic stagnation during the 1930s...
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...The Western Exploitation of Japan, China, and India History is filled with stories of one culture influencing and exploiting other cultures. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the Western exploitation of Asia. Throughout the nineteenth century various Western powers used their might to exploit the country of Japan. Japan however was not alone in this unfair treatment; China and India were also subject to Western influence. However, the way these influences took place differed in a variety of manners. While Japan and China underwent similar events, with a forced end to isolation and unequal treaties, India was completely taken over by foreign powers. Japan was ever wary of foreign influences to its culture; since the beginning of the seventeenth century the Tokugawa Shogunate had enforced a strict isolationist policy. By the mid-ninteenth century Japan had become too valuable of an economic foothold for the West to leave be. In 1853, President Millard Fillmore sent Commodore Matthew Perry to end Japanese isolationism. When the Japanese government saw the smog-belching, technologically superior, battleships pull into the Tokyo harbor they knew they had no choice but to give into any demands the Americans made. This led to the first of many unequal treaties, the Treaty of Friendship, which opened up several ports to American trade and established an American consulate. The first consul, Townsend Harris, forced even further concessions with the Harris Treaty in 1854. This...
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...A. Discuss the rise of imperialism or colonialism in one area of the world from the following list: • South America • North America • Central America • India • Southeast Asia • Africa 1. Explain how the indigenous people of the area discussed in part A reacted (via protest, rebellion, accommodation, etc.) to imperialism or colonialism. The rise of imperialism and colonization in India was met with ambivalence by the people. By the 1750's, Britain had established viable relations with India through the East India Trading Company. (Soomo, India and the Indepedence movement, 2013). Items traded were cotton, teas, pepper, and indigo. India was important to Britain for, at that time, it was Britain's only foothold into the East due to growing competition from the Dutch. The EITC governed large areas of India, using private armies and British troops. (Soomo, India and the Indepedence movement, 2013). India was a popular "conquer" for England and held a certain mysticism and romantic allure due to its beautiful adornments, culture, and language. It became known as the "Jewel of the Crown". (Soomo, Bridging World History episode 121: Compexities of Colonialism: Refashioning Colonial Identities, 2013). Trading posts were established with approval from the Indian people. In fact, due to outside conflicts, lack of communication between their own Indian rulers, and inconsistencies within their government, the EITC quickly moved into India's administration without...
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