Colonial India

The British came to India at the start of the seventeenth century, changing the course of India’s history. During the seventeenth century many nations attempted to become wealthier through selling goods. One of these being spices which India had plenty, and it was this that lead to the colonisation of India. Through Indian colonisation, India faced many changes in the modification of policies that affected the economic stability of India. Another major impact of British colonisation was the huge impact it had on India’s people, the changes that took place ranged from beneficial technological changes to a major loss of money for Indian workers. British colonisation also impacted on the culture and religion of the country. Many new laws were created to modify major cultures of India .Many British also felt it was their duty and responsibility to turn the Indian population toward Christian beliefs, resulting in a confused and lost nation.
One of the biggest impacts of the British colonisation in India was the impact Britain had on India’s economy. In the 1800’s India was one of the richest countries in the world, it was economically more developed than Britain. Yet by the time India once again gained full control of its own country, their wealth had diminished substantially. Historians differ in determining the economic impact of Britain’s control in India. Some historians believe that the British formed a powerful force for development, but failed to achieve much due to the internal blocks in India, which included many systems that were already in place when the foreigners arrived.
On the other side of the argument, historians see the policies Britain put in place were not for the economic gain of India but aimed at Britain's growth at the cost of India's financial development. Due to this historians argue that Britain was the main contributor to the economic stagnation of India. Marc P. Bradley a professor of International History at the University of Chicago stated: “Those parts of India which have been longest under British rule are the poorest today…Nearly all the major problems today have grown up during British rule as a direct result of British policy…”
Britain saw India as a resource to be disposed of. British companies introduced many manufacturing companies to India and used their cheap labor to run them. This lead to the decline of handicraft businesses, which could not could not keep up with the speed and cost of the goods supplied through British companies. Due to the unequal manufacturing policies India’s national income grew at only 1 percent per year, a huge decrease to the years before British colonisation. Britain’s policies in India primarily lead to the economic stagnation of the entire country. Mike Davis a historian / teacher concludes: "If the history of British rule in India were to be condensed to a single fact, it is this: there was no increase in India’s per-capita income from 1757 to 1947." In fact, incomes may have declined by 50 percent in the last half of the 19th century.”
The Indian population was greatly affected by the colonisation of India. Indians lost money due to less jobs and a difference in living conditions. During British rule in India, many new technologies were introduced, one of these being railways. Through the introduction of railway lines transport became much easier, however historians believe that this is the only positive outcome for India. A main cause for the development of railway lines was so that Britain was then able to sell duty-free products all over India. Due to large amounts of cheap goods being bought and sold across India, many Indian businesses collapsed as they could not compete with the cheap goods being brought over from Britain. Local businesses shut down resulting in many people loosing jobs. In addition tax revenues from agriculture and industry that should have benefitted the people of India instead went to Britain.
During the British reign in India, policies were negligent toward the Indian people. During this time twelve major famines and many minor ones occurred across the entire country of India. “According to official figures, 28 million Indians starved to death between 1854 and 1901. India’s share of world income shrank from 22.6% in 1700 to 3.8% in 1952.” Many Indians began to fight and challenge British authority as early as 1854 where many expressed the need to end British rule, which eventually ended the civil unrest of India. However, the British improved India’s legal justice and civil service systems, improved military training, and created telegraph, postal, rail and road networks. These all had positive impacts on India’s population, giving them services and easier more simple ways to communicate. In spite of these positive out comes for the Indian people, Britain did these things to mainly better themselves, primarily for their own political and economic gain, not to benefit the Indian people.
Another major impact Britain had on India and its people was in the areas of culture and religion. Christian missionaries believed it was their duty to convert all Indians, to their Christian beliefs and customize them to western culture. Kallie Szczepanski a history author stated: “Many Indians were distressed by the rapid cultural changes imposed by the British. They worried that Hindu and Muslim India would be ‘Christianized.’” Through this it is shown that the changes to India’s culture was a huge threat to India as a country and in some ways disrespectful. One example of the disrespectful ways the British forced cultural and religion change to the people of India was in early 1857, a new type of rifle cartridge was given to the soldiers of the British Indian Army. It was believed by most that the cartridges were greased with pig and cow fat, which was against both major Indian religions, of Muslim and Hinduism. If Indian soldiers refused to use the cartridge provided by British officials, they were arrested and possibly executed. Through this example it is clear that Britain had too much power over India and had a major impact on the cultural change of India. Britain’s harsh changes to the cultural aspects of India was one of the major causes to the unsuccessful 1857-58 rebellion, which lead to even harsher policies resulting in the conformity and restriction of the Indian people. It was believed by many historians that; British colonisation of India cased unrest within Indian society; it resulted in the demolition of some cultural practises and made keys changes to other major cultural and religions traditions.

Although Britain claimed to be working for the better of India, and its people, it was clear that the result of colonial India unmistakably benefited Britain rather than India. Colonisation of India had many different impacts on the country, many being negative, resulting in the turmoil of sIndia. The colonisation of India changed many aspects of Indian life including the changes in economy, the conversion of life in India and the transformation of culture and religion in India.