The Rise of Imperialism in India

The Rise of Imperialism in India

The imperialism in India took place in the eighteenth century. India was rich in commodities like spices, tea, cloth that were very interesting to the countries in Europe. During 1450-1750 with the weakening of the mughal empire ( The Mughal empire was a muslin dynasty that ruled over India from the early 16th century to the mid 18th century), it allowed for these European countries to take full advantage of what India had to offer. In the 18th century, confrontations between French and British trading companies, led to the British occupation in India. The British intended to bring India as one population and one language (English). The imperialism in India was very profitable for Britain and with that the British looked to increase their influence and power over the Indians unfortunately disregarding their culture and customs and traditions. The lack of respect to the Indian culture led the Indian’s to resent the British. The Indian Mutiny of 1857 was difficult for the British to manage; Indian soldiers rebelled against Britain who supplied firearms to these soldiers who were mostly Hindi or Muslim. The soldiers were required to bite the end off the cartridges that were greased with pork or cow fat, both animals that were regarded as sacred or forbidden to consume by their religion. The Indian’s soldiers fought for about two years and were ultimately crushed by Britain who then took over direct control of the East Indian Company. By this time the Indian people were fed up with the British power over them and wanted their independence. Gandhi’s campaign for Indian independence was also very hard for the British government to handle. There were many violent and non-violent protests. Gandhi protested so that the Indians would boycott paying taxes. The English language and the European political principals were also a great help to create the Indian nationalist movement and created unity among Indians. Britain struggled to maintain control but finally lost control of India who became independent of Britain once and for all.

The American Revolution

The American Revolution was a political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America (en.wikipedia.org).