British Imperialism in India

End of Mughal Rule 1600s, the British East India Company set up trading posts at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. The native Mughal Empire that inhabited India collapsed and India was open for the taking.

British East India Company A private British company that basically ran India Controlled the economy, government and politics of the entire region

British East India Company WHY INDIA? the silk road: India was a world leader of weaving cloth and the world wanted stronger, washable and more colorful fabric The British East India Company basically took over India to control the fabric (textile) industry

SEPOY REBELLION – NOT MUTINY!!!

Resentment of British Rule Indians were second-class citizens in their own country. Even Indians with a European education faced discrimination (like Gandhi) paid less than Europeans.

Positive Effects - India the world’s third largest railroad network was a major British achievement. a modern road network, telephone and telegraph lines, dams, bridges, and irrigation canals Sanitation and public health improved. Schools and colleges were founded, and literacy increased.

Negative Impact for India British held much of the political and economic power. Restricted Indian-owned industries such as cotton textiles. Racism against Indians in their own land Loss of cultural practices and language

Beginnings of Indian Nationalism The new Indian middle classes slowly grew tired of the injustice of British rule 1885 – a large group of these new Indian nationalists founded the Indian National Congress 21

Independence of India The main historical figures of the Indian independence movement include Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Gandhi is known for pacifism, or non-violent resistance Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League India and Pakistan become free and independent countries on August 15, 1947

Partition of India and Pakistan At independence, the British partitioned India into India and Pakistan Two parts of India were divided, Bengal and Punjab. The eastern part of Bengal became East Pakistan and western part of Punjab formed the West Pakistan. Mohandas Gandhi believed that Hindus and Muslims could and should live in amity and opposed the partition

Independence of India Nehru (Gandhi’s right hand man) became the first Prime Minister of the newly formed democratic country of India Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the first Governor General of Pakistan

Pakistan: After independence from Great Britain, Pakistan was split into two parts separated by India East Pakistan West Pakistan The two parts were only held together by their common religion, Islam.

BANGLADESH War started between West Pakistan & East Pakistan India sided with the East (Bangladesh) West Pakistan became Pakistan East Pakistan became Bangladesh

BANGLADESH Why did this happen? East Pakistan – very poor (subsidence farmers) West Pakistan – very rich (many raw materials and petroleum) Simply put, the rich controlled the poor and the poor became upset

India since Independence

Nehru Ally of Gandhi. 1st Prime Minister of India, 1947-1964. Industrialized India Nonaligned Movement Neutral between USSR and USA Nehru met Gandhi in 1916 at the annual Indian National Congress convention. He participated in the nonviolent civil disobedience campaign and spent time in jail along with Gandhi. At independence, Nehru became the nation’s first prime minister and was continually reelected until his death in 1964. Nehru pushed modernization of the country, and industrialization of its economy.

Indira Gandhi No relation to Mahatma Gandhi Nehru’s daughter. Prime Minister of India, 1966-1984. Faced rebellion Assassinated in 1984 Indira Gandhi was Nehru’s daughter. She married a man named Gandhi who was no relation to the Mahatma. Indira continued industrialization, begun by her father. In 1975 Gandhi was convicted on two counts of corruption in the 1971 campaign. While appealing the decision, she declared a state of emergency, imprisoned her political opponents, and assumed emergency powers. Governing by decree, she imposed total press censorship and implemented a policy of large-scale sterilization as a form of birth control. When long-postponed national elections were held in 1977, Gandhi and her party were soundly defeated. Although very popular at the polls, she faced a great challenge in dealing with nationalist movements among minority groups, especially the Sikhs in Punjab state. The Sikhs sought independence of Punjab, and when they used terrorism, Indira struck back. The Golden Temple -- an extremely holy Sikh shrine at Amritsar was being used by the terrorists as a weapons storehouse and a sanctuary. Indira ordered a military raid on the temple in which hundreds of Sikhs were brutally killed. In the process, the temple was badly damaged. In retaliation, just a few months later on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards.

Rajiv Gandhi Indira’s son. Prime Minister of India, 1984-1989. Reformed economy and government Also faced rebellion Assassinated in 1991 . General elections in November 1989 brought the defeat of Rajiv Gandhi. Officials in his government were accused of taking kickbacks from the Bofors Company of Sweden in a purchase of guns for the army. Vishwanath Pratap Singh, leader of the Janata Dal party, was sworn in as prime minister on Dec. 2, 1989. In March 1990 India withdrew the last of its 50,000 troops from Sri Lanka. The peacekeeping force failed in its three-year effort to reconcile the Tamils with the majority Sinhalese. Campaigning to return to office, Gandhi was killed by a bomb blast on May 21, 1991.

Major problems & Issues in India today Overpopulation  1 billion & climbing Hindu-Muslim tensions Terrorism Nuclear Weapons Political assassinations The population of India is just over 1 billion people. It is believed that India’s population will surpass that of China by 2020. No success with family planning, birth control/abortion. Necessity of large families in agrarian subsistence lifestyle. India's economy is uneven at best: many Indians lead a subsistence lifestyle, while a sizeable middle class and a small upper class live in the cities. The situation in Kashmir is quite dangerous. Ongoing hostilities continue, and both sides continue a low-level crossfire across the border of this divided region. Three wars have been fought over Kashmir: 1948, 1965, and 1971. The 1972 partition did not settle the issue. Because both sides, India and Pakistan, have nuclear weapons, some fear that the potential for large-scale war could lead to the use of these nuclear weapons. In the summer of 2002, India and Pakistan came within a hair’s breadth of war.

Kashmir Conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan over the Jammu and Kashmir regions of South Asia

Kashmir Conflict India and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir, called the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1947, 1965 and 1999.

Nuclear rivalry

Is this a possibility?