1. To what extent did Britain rule India well?
Your task is to:
Describe the way Britain ruled India
To explain how India reacted to British rule
To reach a judgement about the effectiveness of British rule

2. Task Use the sources to think about: British views Indian views
Reliability of the sources – who produced them, when were they produced, why were they produced, are they biased towards the British or the Indian view point?

3. Source Summary of source Who produced it? When was it produced?
Is it from before, during or after India’s time in the empire?
Is it intended as propaganda, to entertain, to inform, to motivate?
British, Indian or specific person?
Do you trust it to tell you the absolute truth?
Source
Summary of source
Who produced it?
When was it produced?
Why was it produced?
Is it reliable? A B C D E F G H I

4. Michael Pallin
Source A
“If we say that all of our past involvement with the world was bad and wicked and wrong, I think we're doing ourselves a great disservice. It has set up lines of communication between people that are still very strong. We still have links with other countries – culturally, politically and socially – that, perhaps, we shouldn't forget.”

5. Exports of Indian calico and muslin to Britain
Year
Exports of Indian calico and muslin to Britain
Exports of Indian dyed cotton to Britain
Exports of plain British cotton to India
Exports of dyed British cotton to India
Total cloths sent to Britain from India
Total cloths sent to India from Britain
1814
967,652
298,596
213,408
604,800
1,266,608
818,200
1821
275,352
259,143
9,423,352
9,715,374
534,495
19,138,726
1828
203,848
218,656
30,411,857
12,410,220
422,504
42,822,077
1835
39,459,172
12,318,105
306,086
51,777,277
Source B

6. Extracts from the Independence Day Resolution passed by the Indian National Congress in 1930
Source C

7. Source D

8. Source E

9. Source G
Source H
Source F
Sati – Hindu ritual sacrifice

10. Source J
Source I

12. To what extent did Britain rule India well?
In some ways Britain did rule India well. For example source …. suggests that …… Source … is from the viewpoint of the …. This means that …..
Other things that Britain did well include …..
In other ways Britain didn’t rule India well. For example, in source ….. it suggests that …… This source takes the view point of ….. This means that ……
Other sources also say Britain ruled India badly, for example ….. They might reach a negative conclusion because…..
Clearly, opinion plays a part in deciding whether people think the British ruled well or not. For example….
However, after looking at the sources I think that …..