HY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 70: Triangular Trade, Great Power, The Great Game
31 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
I.Imperialism in South Asia
A. India and the British empire
1. The "jewel of the British Crown"
2. The British East India Company
a. Had its own military divided into European and Indian divisions
b. Held the right to collect taxes on land from Indian peasants
c. Held legal monopolies over trade in all goods (the most lucrative was opium)
d. Constituted a military and repressive government
e. Offered economic privileges to those who allied themselves with the British
against others
3. British policy divided
. One group wanted to Westernize India
a. Another thought it safer and more practical to defer to local culture
B. The Sepoy Rebellion (1857-1858)
1. Uprising began near Delhi
2. Social, economic, and political grievances
3. Indian peasants attacked law courts and burned tax rolls
4. A protest against debt and corruption
5. Hindu and Muslim leaders denounced Christian missionaries
6. The British response
. Systematic campaign of repression
a. Rebel-supported towns and villages were destroyed
b. Defeat of the rebellion fired the imagination of the British public
C. After the mutiny: reorganizing the Indian empire
1. New strategies of British rule
2. East India Company was abolished
3. British raj governed directly
4. Military reorganization
5. Queen Victoria as empress of India
6. Reform of the civil service
7. Missionary activity subdued
D. India and Britain
1. India as Britain's largest export market
2. India provided Britain with highly trained engineers and bureaucrats
3. 1.2 million Indian troops fought with the British in World War I
4. British indirect rule sought to create an Indian elite to serve British interests
5. Large social group of British-educated Indian civil servants and businessmen
. Provided the leadership for an Indian nationalist movement
II. Imperialism in China
. Europe and China
1. Forced trade agreements
2. Set up treaty ports
3. Established outposts of missionary activity
4. British aimed to improve terms of the China trade
A. The opium trade
1. A direct link between Britain, British India, and China
2. Opium one of the few products Europeans could sell in China
3. Northeast India as richest opium-growing area
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
One group wanted to westernize india: another thought it safer and more practical to defer to local culture, the sepoy rebellion (1857-1858, uprising began near delhi, social, economic, and political grievances. Indian peasants attacked law courts and burned tax rolls: a protest against debt and corruption, hindu and muslim leaders denounced christian missionaries, the british response. India provided britain with highly trained engineers and bureaucrats. 1. 2 million indian troops fought with the british in world war i: british indirect rule sought to create an indian elite to serve british interests, large social group of british-educated indian civil servants and businessmen. Provided the leadership for an indian nationalist movement. Drugs not the main focus: the issue was sovereignty and economic status, european rights to trade, treaty of nanking (1843) British trading privileges: hong kong, the second opium war. Britain granted further rights: other countries demand similar rights and economic opportunities.
