British EIC Rule

British East India Company:

It was a private group of British merchants who got monopoly in trade between Britain and
areas of East Africa. In 1600, they got permission from Queen Elizabeth I for trading in the
world. They just landed in Surat in 1608 with their goods and gifts for the emperor. They earned
riches from the trade of spices, raw cotton, silver, indigo, saffron and opium. The ambassador,
Sir Thomas Roe stayed in Jehangir’s court until he got permission to trade in 1612 on the force
by Prince Khurram, Shah Jahan, the governor of Gujrat, the future Mughal Emperor.

Why were the British interested in the Subcontinent? [7]

The British EIC tried their luck in the East Indies (present day Indonesia) but the Dutch were
already there in power, so they moved to the Golden Sparrow, the Subcontinent. They wanted
to trade and had knowledge of crops, minerals and gemstones in India. They therefore wanted
to be rich, like the previous nations, Portuguese, Dutch and French, who earned a lot of wealth
from India through trade.

Britain was the first country to have an Industrial Revolution, they had modern machinery,
therefore they needed cheap raw materials from India such as spices, cotton, silk, sugar, saffron,
indigo and opium. They also got India as a market for their finished goods. Therefore, the rapid
growth and prosperity of the company was impressive.

The British also wanted to spread their Christian culture, promote Christian religion all over
the world, they got a chance to bring Christianity and spread their culture. Later, they changed
their charter in 1833 for setting up their colony in the Subcontinent.

Expansion by the British:-

Black Hole Event:

In 1750’s, the company began to fortify their important post at Calcutta. This went against an
agreement they had made with the Nawab of Bengal; Siraj ud-Daulah. An angry Siraj marched
on Calcutta and seized the company’s Fort William. It was in June 1756, at the peak of the
summer that the tragedy of the Black Hole took place, when captured British residents were
locked up in a small room and by morning, twenty-three out of sixty-four (23 out of 64) captives
were found dead due to heat and suffocation.

Battle of Arcot:
On the 31st of August 1751, the British East India Company’s forces led by Robert Clive
captured Arckt, the capital of the Nawab of Carnatic (Arcot) Chanda Sahib. This event changed
the landscape of British and French colonialism in the subcontinent. The siege was part of the
second Carnatic War.

Battle of Plassey:

In 1756, the French encouraged the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, to attack the East India
Company’s base at Calcutta. He captured the city, but was unable to keep control of it. In 1757,
Clive arrived with a force of East India Company soldiers and defeated Siraj ud-Daulah’s
troops in the Battle of Plassey. The Nawab’s body was found in a river after the battle. Clive’s
victory had been made easy by the treachery of Siraj ud-Daulah’s General, Mir Jaffer, who
took bribes.

Mir Jaffer was rewarded by the EIC, he was made the Nawab of Bengal. He therefore gave the
gifts of land and money to the company.

Battle of Pondicherry:

In January 1761, the British land and naval forces besieged and eventually compelled the
French Insidan garrison defending French Colonial outpost of Pondicherry to surrender. The
city was running low on suppliers and ammunition when French commander, Lally,
surrendered.

Battle of Buxar:

In 1764, Mir Jaffer’s son, Mir Qasim joined forces with the Nawab of Oudh and the Mughal
Emperor Shah Alam II to drive the EIC out of Bengal. They were unsuccessful and after their
defeat in the Battle of Buxar, in 1764, British influence actually increased. EIC then took
control of the revenue collection in Bengal, Bihar, Oraisa and extended its influence into Oudh.

In 1773, the British government was forced to act to stop the misgovernment. It passed an Act
of Parliament which required the EIC to provide good government to stop anarchy.

In 1782, the first Governor General of India, Warren Hastings, signed a treaty ending the first
Maratha War between the British and the Marathas. This gave the British the opportunity to
extend their influence elsewhere.

Pitt’s India Act:

It was the Parliamentary Act moved by the Prime Minister, Williams Pitt. The Indian Act of
1784 (Pitt’s) made the Governor General of India, a Royal appointment. It replaced the
Company’s Board of Directors by a Board of Control, comprising of six men, including the
Secretary of States and Chancellor of the Exchequer. This Act began a new era, raising the
company from a trading concern to a Sovereign body.

Subsidiary Alliances:

In 1798, Lord Wellesley persuaded the local princes or rulers to sign Subsidiary Alliances. It
was a shrewd way for Britain to consolidate its power in India at a very little cost. The local
ruler would continue to run the affairs of his state while British soldiers protected him. In return,
the rulers had to pay towards the cost of troops and accept a British resident advisor. At the
same time, the local rulers were stopped from making any alliances. Hyderabad state was the
first to accept British protection with a Subsidiary Alliance in 1800. It was followed by Oudh
in 1801 and Maratha Peshwa in 1802.

Tipu Sultan and Anglo Mysore Wars:

He was the son of Haider Ali of Mysore, both of them resisted British rule. Tipu received
support from the French, the British were concerned about it. He was known as the ‘Tiger of
Mysore’ and ruled there from 1782 to 1799. He won important victories against the British in
the second Anglo-Mysore War and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after
his father died the previous year. His treatment of his conquered non-Muslim subjects and the
British prisoners of war is controversial. He removed an enemy of the British, bringing them
back to renewed conflict with an attack on Travancore in 1789.

In the third Anglo-Mysore War, Tipu was forced into a humiliating treaty, losing a number of
previously conquered territories, including Malabar and Mangalore.

In the the fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the combined forces of British and Nizam of Hyderabad
defeated Tipue and he was killed on 4th May, 1799 (Battle of Seringapatam) while defending
the first of Seringapatam as his own army General, Mir Sadiq, betrayed him by helping the
British (Lord Wellesley).

● In 1803, the British entered Delhi and forced the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam, to
accept that he was ruling under British protection.
● In 1773, the British Government had accepted some responsibility for what was
happening in India. Under the Regulating Act, the EIC was made accountable to the
Parliament. A Governor General was appointed for the province of Bengal. Under him,
Madras and Bombay were each given a governor. There was a Supreme Court in
Calcutta. Every six months, the company directors had to provide the Parliament in
Britain with a report of their activities. From that time, the power of the British
Government in India grew just as the role of the EIC declined.
● In 1814, EIC lost their monopoly. Other British companies wanted to share in the profits
of India. They said there should be ‘Free Trade’ with no monopoly for just one
organisation. It was a serious blow to the company. Their role in India declined and
after the violent events of 1857, ended all together. The company which had opened up
the Indian sub-continent to the British, which took so much profit out of India, and such
a powerful long term influence on events, was finally wound up in 1873.
● Britain's Industrial Revolution led to a rapid growth in trade between Britain and India.
British factories needed more and more raw materials. British merchants needed to sell
to more and more people. Control of the cotton trade was very profitable for Britain. In
1800, EIC stopped the export of all cotton cloth from India. Instead, only raw cotton
was shipped to England where it was made into cloth which was then taken back for
sale in India. This had a terrible effect on many Indian communities who relied on
making and selling the cloth. The EIC was concerned with its own profits and did not
provide any economic growth for India. There was no attempt by the British to invest
any of their profits in India. As the English textile industry flourished, poverty in India
grew and farmers were forced to grow jute and cotton for sale to Britain.
● In 1818, the Marathas were defeated by British forces and finally forced to accept
British control.
● The British Conquest of India alarmed the people of Afghanistan and the Sikh rulers of
Punjab, Afghanistan stood between Russia and British India. The British worried that
Russia might seek to expand and actually threaten their control of India, they made an
agreement with Ranjit Singh, the powerful Sikh ruler of Punjab that he would keep
control of the area North of the Sutlej River. Then, in 1839, the British invaded
Afghanistan and installed their own puppet ruler. Two years later, in 1841, disaster
struck when the Afghans rebelled against the new king. Only one British soldier, out of
a force of 4000 based in Kabul, survived to report what had happened.

British Annexation of States:

Annexation of Sindh:

In 1843, British forces under Sir Charles Napier, to overcome the embarrassment in
Afghanistan, provoked the Ameers of Sindh to attack the British Presidency, they
attacked it and the British got a chance, or excuse, to annex Sindh, It was also to control
the important route through Bolan Pass into India.

Annexation of Punjab:

The British then turned to Punjab which included two important trade routes, the
Khyber Pass and River Indus. The British believed that goods moving on camels
through Khyber Pass and Punjab to India could more easily be shipped down to the
Indus then by ship from Karachi. Along the Indus coast, local rulers were charging
hefty fees. The arrival of the first steam powered river boats made this route even more
attractive. The Sikhs in Punjab were worried that the British would invade. In 1845,
they invaded British controlled India in the First Sikh War. In the Battle of Aliwal in
1846, the Sikhs lost.Their main army was destroyed at Sabraon. Later, in the Second
Sikh War(1848-49), another Sikh army was completely destroyed, after which the
victorious British took over Punjab in 1849.

The Sikhs had to cede land to the British, Treaty of Lahore was signed. They paid a
huge indemnity. The Raja of Kashmir, Ghulab Singh Dogra, who had helped the
British, was allowed to purchase Kashmir and was granted the title of ‘Maharaja’ by
the British.

Annexation of NWFP:

In 1849, the British were determined that a border would help develop relations with
tribal territory to the North of the new territory. Lord Lytton put forward the idea of
establishing a boundary to separate India from tribesmen. The Durand line was
announced as a boundary by Sir Mortimer Durand later in 1893. The British finally
took control of NWFP in 1849.

Treaty of Amritsar and Treaty of Lahore:

It was an agreement in 1809 between the British EIC and Ranjit Singh. In 1846, it
became a treaty formalising the arrangements in Treaty of Lahore between EIC and
Maharaja Ghulab Singh after the first Aanglo-Sikh War. By Treaty of Lahore, they took
Kashmir and its dependencies with fertile Jallaudhar.

Doctrine of Lapse:

It was a law imposed in 1852 by Lord Dalhousie. It meant that if a ruler failed to have
a natural heir, the state would be annexed by the British, e.g. states of Jhansi and Sitara.
There was a great resentment by the Indians for the alien nation, the British.

Doctrine of Paramountcy:

It was an Act applied by Lord Dalhousie in 1852. It said if a ruler of a state could not
govern it properly and emergency conditions prevailed, the state would be annexed by
the British. E.g. Nagpur and Oudh. It caused great resentment for the British alien
nation.

● In 1833, the British government tried to give Indians an important part in

running their own country. The Charter Act of 1833 said that Indians could be
part of civil services and ministering India. But in practice, there was change,
1000 administrators were employed in civil services through exams. Christian
missionaries teaching in institutions were given an opportunity to join any
department in India.

However, the British changed their charter from trade to setting up their colonial
rule. Later, due to war 1857, they were able to take over complete control of the
subcontinent by August 1858.