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British India

Indians always practiced a rich culture and the land of medieval India was full of natural property. So, the land was always targeted by the outer world or Europeans. There were a number of foreigner came in India with an intention of capturing its property. The last dominant ruler of Indian medieval history, Aurangzeb, has died at 1707 AD and after that gradually in 1739 AD the Moghul Empire was ended. As a result, the administration system of India became looser and it was a golden opportunity for Europeans who wanted to enter in India.

A number of different enemies came to the India and they destructed the property of the nation. In 1498 AD, the Portuguese shipper Vasco da Gama reached in India at the fort of Goa and gradually captured it, after that, Dutch, French, Spanish, Persian, Afghans and British have came in different parts of India. The Dutch came in the East part of India (Cochin, Nagapatam and Agra) in 1595 AD for trade purpose. In the year of 1667 AD and 1669 AD two French companies established at Surat and Masulipatnam in Gujrat for the reason of import-export duty.

Persian ruler Nadir Shah in 1739 AD reached in Delhi and when he returned back in his country than he took every expensive goods including the wonderful Peacock Throne of Moghul Empire. The Afghans general Ahmad Shah Abdali came in Delhi at 1748 AD with a large army. He captured Delhi by defeating the Maratha powers in the final battle of Panipat on January 13, 1761 AD. As a result, the Indian power became looser and the British rose in power.

Beginning of British Raj

British are the second foreigner had come in India at the beginning of 16th century at the time of Moghuls. They built East India Company with a permission of Mughol ruler Jahangir and made a friendly relation with him. It was possible by a British representative Thomas Roe who came to India and reached to the court of Mughol emperor Jahangir in 1612 AD. After that the East India Company gradually became stronger and in 1674 AD Bombay became the part of British. The company exchanged lots of goods, namely silk, sugar, neel and many other. The last Moghul ruler Aurangojeb died in 1707 AD and British increased their power further more. But, in time reign from 1720 AD to 1740 AD British were faced some problems by the French because French also increased their company's throughout Gujrat.

At least they met a field of Deccan in the battle of Carnatic War in 1746 AD to 1748 AD. The clash was over Madras and the French captured it but they given back it to the British as part of the agreement of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 AD. After that in 1756 AD they restarted a battle which continued for Seven Years and British won victories in the West Bengal, Madras, Ponicherry and Wandiwash. Since then the British rise to power in India. The British, Lord Cornwallis became governor of India in 1786 AD. He made stronger armed forces to increase East India Company. Cornwallis was succeeded by Lord Wellesley who gradually extended their property and regions.

There was a business relation between two country India and Britain through the East India Company till the year of 1813 AD. The business of British was controlled in India only by the employees of East India Company. During the year 1813 AD, East India Company was broken and all citizen of Britain were allowed to profession with India. Over the next 30 years, the British sustained to gain new lands and increased their control and made English as the official language of India.

First revolt - Sipahi Bidroho

Indian inhabitants were mainly divided in two different religions, Hindu and Muslim and their culture were not same. Indian Sepoy or armies were trained by British as soldiers. When they heard that the cartridges of new Enfield rifles were mixture of lard and beef fat then they became angrier. Because the cow is holy to Hindus and the pig is abhorrent to Muslims. During the year of 1857 on 10th may, Indian Sepoy or armies opposed to avoid the use of new Enfield rifle, but there was no solution about the problem. So, they declared Sipahi Bidroho or Sepoy Mutiny at 1857 AD in different place of the nation, among them, West Bengal Sapoys led by Mangal Pandey, took a vital role in this mutiny on March 29.

Mangal Pandey was a Sapoy at the Barrackpur parade ground declared rebel against his commanders British. British General Hearsay ordered local Jemadar Ishwari Prasad to arrest Mangal Pandey, but the Jemadar declined. Mangal Pandey convinced other Indian armies to join the mutiny against the British. But he was arrested by Shaikh Paltu and hanged on April 8. The Jemadar Ishwari Prasad also hanged on April 22 and the mutiny of Bengal was stopped with a very harsh punishment. After that the mutiny reached in many places of India, namely, Agra, Allahabad, Ambala, Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. At least, this mutiny was cruelly crushed by the British on Sept 20, 1857 AD.

British Take Control of India
British Queen Victoria declared herself as Indian Empress and she took the control of Indian administration system on August 2, 1858 with an agreement (Government of India Act) of British Parliament. In 1869 AD, the Suez Canal was completed to reduce the travel time to India from three months to three weeks and import the British goods easily and quickly to India. British women began to come to India and they developed their own society separated from the Indians.

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi was the only Indian leader against British who was succeeded to gather the massive people from every corner of the nation. He returned back to India in 1914 and started struggle against to the autocracy of British. His philosophy was established upon ahimsa (nonviolence). His philosophy and leadership helped India to gain independence. Gandhi always spoke the truth and advised others to do the same.

Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha 
In Champaran, more than 10000 of landless peoples, maximum of them were poor farmers or laborers, were enforced to cultivate indigo and other cash crops (neel, jute etc) instead of the food crops (paddy, wheat etc). The cultivated cash crops which were forcefully made by the poor farmers were bought from them at a very little price. The British landlord or some Deshi Zaminder forcefully done this with large armies (British employee) and they made a dirty atmosphere in the farmer's villages. After few days the British landlord increased the rate of tax (crop tax) which gradually reached up to near 75% of the income of a farmer. So, the poor farmers were coincided with a destructive famine because there were no food crops to eat and they also have no many for purchasing foods. There were same problems with the farmers of Kheda in Gujrat, so they all of farmers began Satyagraha which was led by Gandhi.

In 1918 Mahatma Gandhi began Champaran agitation (Champaran is a district of Bihar) and Kheda Satyagraha (Kheda is a district of Gujrat) and these continued for two years from 1918 to 1919. It was a movement against the Acts of the British governor Rowlatt. During this Satyagraha Gandhi Ji was arrested, but a lot of people protested and gathered outside the lockup, police stations and courts demanding his relief. After a long non-violence protest against crucial British landlord, they were succeeded to release Gandhi. British landlord or Zaminder were agreed to postpone revenue until the famine finished. This Satyagraha movement made Gandhi more popular for Indian and the people began to call him as Bapu (means father) or officially honored in India as "the Father of the Nation".

Indian Nationalism and Independent
Two main Indian inhabitants Hindu and Muslim primarily accepted the rules of British. But, the administration system of British gradually became very tyrannical and they treated Indians just like a beast. Some time the cruelty of British has crossed the limit and killed Indians. In 1885 AD, Indian National Congress was established basically by Hindus and in 1906 AD; it was joined with Muslim League. Many Indians requested to maintain their own traditional culture and use their own products and they convinced other to cease the product of British. The congress Party quickly gained popular. Every type of people of Indian society accepted the membership of the party and after the year of 1905 AD, the British divided the state of Bengal. This encouraged enormous protests (Bango Vango Andolan) and attracted many millions more Indian citizens to the nationalist movement.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre
During the year of 1919 AD Rowlatt Acts was passed by the British government. Both Hindu and Muslim protested of these acts on the day of 13th April 1919 AD in Amritshar, the capital city of Punjab. There were above 20 thousand unarmed men, women and children assembled in a public square to protest against of these acts. British general Dyer (Suorer Bachcha) ordered his armies (50 soldiers) ordered to fire into the gathering without any warning and the armies fired 1650 round shots. Above 400 people were killed and more than 1200 were wounded. Unfortunately the wounded people received no medical attention. It was the most sorrowful day of Indian history.

Non-cooperation movement
The massacre of Jallianwala Bagh made huge effects on the mind of Indians and they protested of this incident. In December 1921, Gandhi was authorized with the executive power of the Indian National Congress. Under his control, the Congress party was restructured with a new formation with the goal of Swaraj. He started the swadeshi policy - boycott of foreign-made goods, mainly British goods and he advised to Indians to use khadi kapor (homespun cloth) instead of British-made cloths. Gandhi insisted Indian to boycott British educational institutions and courts, to resign from government service and to leave British titles and honors.

Non-cooperation movement increased enthusiasm and involvement from all division of the society and it reached its height but the movement was broken suddenly. Because the leader of Muslim League Jinha and the Dalit or Untouchable community rejected cooperation with Gandhi beside of this, a violent conflict in the town of Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, in February 1922 were totally stopped the movement. More than 15,000 peoples were jailed including Gandhi on 10 March 1922. Gandhi Ji was ordered to six years jail. But he was released in February 1924 for an appendicitis operation.

Salt Satyagraha (Salt March)
In 1930 during the month of March Gandhi began a new movement against the tax on salt. This was known as the famous Salt March or Dandi Avijaan where he marched from Ahmedabad to Dandi (388 kilometers) to make salt himself from 12 March to 6 April. Thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea. But the movement was stopped by punishing over 60,000 people in to jail. This movement was one of his most successful at disturbing British. The British accepted Gandhi?s demand and decided to cooperate with Gandhi. The British governor Edward Irwin and Gandhi was signed a Pact in March 1931. The British Government agreed to release all political prisoners, in return for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement.

Quit India Movement (Varat Chharo Andolan)
World War II started in 1939 initially, Gandhi Ji provided a non-violent ethical support to the British, but the other leaders of Congress were disagreed with him and they resigned from office. After long discussions, Gandhi declared Quit India Movement which was the most perfect rebellion aimed at securing the British exit from India by the Congress Party. Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or injured by police gunfire and hundreds of thousands were arrested. Gandhi called on all Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline via ahimsa, and Karo Ya Maro (Do or Die) in the cause of ultimate freedom. But the movement was ended with the arresting of Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee in Bombay by the British on 9 August 1942. Gandhi was released on 6 May 1944 because of his failing health.

During the year of 1921 AD, it became clear that the Hindus and Muslims were taking their own paths Muslim League demanded a separate Muslim Country. After World War II the British Secretary recognized a committee to solve the disagreement between the Congress Party and the Muslim League. During the year of 1947, the British Parliament passed an act and divided India in separate country; the Hindu majority country of India and the Muslim majority country of Pakistan. At midnight of August 14, 1947, these two countries became independent, ending British imperial rule of India.