Imperialism and Decolonization - India

British presence in India began on 31 December 1600, when Queen Elizabeth gave the East India Company monopoly trading privileges to India. The monopoly was on all countries to the east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. The East India Company traded mostly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpeter, tea, and opium. They struggled in the spice trade, since the Dutch spice trade was already well-established in India. The Company established their first trading post in Surat in 1612, and a second in Madras in 1640, and continued to grow from there. Portuguese, Dutch, French and Danish companies were also moving into the region. The Company had a great deal of control in factory areas already, but their real rule is considered to begin after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. After this, the Company took control of most of the lower Gangetic plain, and continued to expand their control from there.

The British Raj was instituted in 1858, a year after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Rule of the East India Company was transferred to Queen Victoria, who was declared Empress of India in 1876. Their control extended over India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and at various times including Aden Colony, Upper and Lower Burma, British Somaliland, and Singapore. Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was a British Colony, but not part of British India. On August 14th and 15th, 1947 British India was partitioned and separated into the Dominion of Pakistan (which later became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh), and the Union of India (later became the Republic of India). The Indian Independence Act of 1947 resulted in the dissolution of the British India Empire. Up to 12.5 million people were displaced, and several hundred thousand to a million people died.

India was getting along perfectly well on their own before England came along and took over. But during the Raj, India experienced some the worst famines ever recorded, and recent research attributes these famines directly to British policy. In Great Famine of 1876-78, 6.1 to 10.3 million people died, and in the Indian famines of 1899-1900, 1.25 to 10 million people died. Despite famines and illnesses, the population of India from 1800 to 1941 had grown from 185 million to over 380 million. The first Cholera pandemic started in Bengal and by 1820, had spread across India, killing countless Indians and 10,000 British troops. Deaths in 1817-1860 are estimated at 15 million, and 1865-1917 at 23 million. The Third Pandemic of Plague started in China, and spread to all continents, and killed 10 million in India alone.

There was some effort to help people in India. Waldemar Haffkine, who mostly worked in India, developed cholera and bubonic plague vaccines. Sir Ronald Ross proved that malaria is spread by mosquitoes. Mass smallpox vaccines lead to a major decline in smallpox deaths.

Mohandas Gandhi (commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi) was the political and spiritual leader of India, and lead the country in the Indian independence movement. He pioneered the idea of resisting tyranny though civil disobedience instead of violence. In India, Gandhi is officially honored as the Father of the Nation. His birthday, October 2nd, is commemorated in India as the national holiday Gandhi Jayanti, and around the world as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Like most countries who underwent decolonization, India was left in a very bad situation by Britain. They have a huge population, high infant death rates, and little money, but are improving things very quickly. They haven't been an independent country for very long, and they are making lots of headway into fixing things. While a great deal of countries who underwent decolonization are third world, India is currently sitting around second and is still coming up.

~Rebecca