Evaluate the impact of British Imperialism on India in the early twentieth century
The impact of the British Empire on India during the early twentieth century is seen through the way in which India changed while part of the British Empire in both positive and negative ways. The British Empire desired to expand to areas where weaker cultures lived with lots of natural resources available for the British to use with other countries to boost their own economy. The British Empire has had influence in India since the 17th century when they created the East India trading company. Britain took control over India in 1857 however, it was during 1880 when the new middle class arrived that the British impact was really seen on India as the British introduced new systems to accommodate this new class and the impacts of imperialism was really seen (Kaul, 2011).
The British introduced many positive attributes to India such as a new and stronger economy than what they had before; this helped them introduce modern technology and education into their society during the early twentieth century. The British had introduced advanced machines to help in the manufacturing of goods such as cars, guns and steel and they were all brought to India to help to industrialise the colony. New subjects such as science, health, agricultural resourcing, hygiene and medicine were taught and this helped benefit the colony with people learning new skills that were able to help the less fortunate. With the introduction of new education also came the opportunity for the farmers to learn more about their crops and how to get the best productivity, so the British educated them on crops so that their land would become more fertile in the future which would then benefit the growing population more. They were also taught in the academic arts such as the liberal arts or law so that by 1890 60,000 Indians have studied university level education. The colony also got educated on sanitation and they were taught healthier habits, and taught basic hygiene and cleanliness which reduced the rate of sickness and disease which was important in such a densely populated colony like India (Period3-7).
The impact of the British Empire on India during the early twentieth century is seen through the way in which India changed while part of the British Empire in both positive and negative ways. The British Empire desired to expand to areas where weaker cultures lived with lots of natural resources available for the British to use with other countries to boost their own economy. The British Empire has had influence in India since the 17th century when they created the East India trading company. Britain took control over India in 1857 however, it was during 1880 when the new middle class arrived that the British impact was really seen on India as the British introduced new systems to accommodate this new class and the impacts of imperialism was really seen (Kaul, 2011).
The British introduced many positive attributes to India such as a new and stronger economy than what they had before; this helped them introduce modern technology and education into their society during the early twentieth century. The British had introduced advanced machines to help in the manufacturing of goods such as cars, guns and steel and they were all brought to India to help to industrialise the colony. New subjects such as science, health, agricultural resourcing, hygiene and medicine were taught and this helped benefit the colony with people learning new skills that were able to help the less fortunate. With the introduction of new education also came the opportunity for the farmers to learn more about their crops and how to get the best productivity, so the British educated them on crops so that their land would become more fertile in the future which would then benefit the growing population more. They were also taught in the academic arts such as the liberal arts or law so that by 1890 60,000 Indians have studied university level education. The colony also got educated on sanitation and they were taught healthier habits, and taught basic hygiene and cleanliness which reduced the rate of sickness and disease which was important in such a densely populated colony like India (Period3-7).
Transport and communication also improved with India been able to communicate and trade with more of the world than ever before with then strengthened their economy and standard of living throughout India. Transport was built through railways so that trade with the rest of imperialised Asia would be easier and this meant that India got a more varied supply of food and resources to use for the benefit of their colony (Jane).
Some negative effects of British imperialism on India can range from the dependency India had on Britain to the outbreak of famine on the nation, all of these effects were felt for decades onwards even after India gained independence.
India became dependent on Britain due to the dependency on the imported goods that Britain provided- India was made only to import goods from Britain and if India didn’t have the goods needed they imported it from Britain. This meant that it was hard for India to support themselves on their own because Britain had such a large impact on their trade and businesses for their resources- not only with Britain but with other colonies over the world.
Some negative effects of British imperialism on India can range from the dependency India had on Britain to the outbreak of famine on the nation, all of these effects were felt for decades onwards even after India gained independence.
India became dependent on Britain due to the dependency on the imported goods that Britain provided- India was made only to import goods from Britain and if India didn’t have the goods needed they imported it from Britain. This meant that it was hard for India to support themselves on their own because Britain had such a large impact on their trade and businesses for their resources- not only with Britain but with other colonies over the world.
The population of India grew at 1% during 1890- 1920 and so did the economy (Chris B. ), this meant the price of living with the growing population caused financial troubles for many people which resulted in them not been able to afford much food which caused many to starve. Britain also encouraged farmers to grow crops for commercial use rather than the use of the farmer and as a large majority of India’s population worked on farms this meant that many went without food which also added to the famine. The famine caused many to fall ill and without a large amount of medicine available in India and with most families struggling to afford food it was a difficult journey for the sick to get well again in India while they were under the British Empire. Imperialism did therefore grow well economically for the British but had a large effect on the people living in the colony who were suffering because of the lack of care for the people and the major attention on the economy.
Britain also controlled the government and didn’t allow for the native people to have a say in government and therefore the native Indian’s lost their power to exercise their voice in how the colony was run. This caused many unhappy people and lessened the morale of society in India and most people became very depressed and upset on how their country was been run. The culture difference between Britain and India was also very large and the British automatically assumed that the Indian culture was below them no matter whom they were and that they shouldn’t even be compared to the British as the British were far more superior.
During 1870- 1907 the British imperialism also caused different social reformers who went against the system they were born into to. Pandita Ramabai who an Indian woman and one of these socialist who emancipated many laws regarding women during the 1870’s and worked with education to strive to achieve a better system (Sunshine, 2013). This shows how imperialism affected the thoughts of people living in the colony; it caused them to want change and their own identity.
In conclusion, the British Empire had both negative and positive impacts on India during the early twentieth century and all of these impacts still influenced India even after the early twentieth century. The impact of communication and transport was one of the major positive impacts as it opened up India to the world and increased their trades and relationships with the rest of the world. The negative impact of famine and the dependency on the British also impacted India in a strong way as it was hard for India to establish themselves as their own nation even after they stopped been part of the British Empire and the impact of famine caused a large majority of the population to fall ill and struggle to get food. The early twentieth century provided Britain to make its mark on India, whether it impacted India in a good or bad way can be argued by many.
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