India in the 19th century: map, culture and economy of the country. What was India in the 19th century?

India in the 19th century, being a gigantic colonysmall England, reluctantly succumbed to the complex and contradictory process of Europeanization, since the achievements and benefits of Western civilization did not take root well on this earth, as, fortunately, almost all the shortcomings. The Indians did not accept new orders, because they valued their own great culture and traditional way of life.

Conquest

The British did not hurry - almost a hundred yearsIt took them so that India in the 19th century completely lost state independence. True, England almost did not suffer losses, since the conquest of the country was carried out by the hands of the Sipaev - Indian soldiers who are in the service of the British.

The last to surrender was Punjab, the state created bythe great Maharaja (prince) Singh. While the Maharajah was alive, it stood unshakably, and with his death in 1837 the power did not fall into the same strong hands. The state disintegrated and became a very easy prey for the British. The feudal administration is far from centralized, which India knew in the 19th century. The map shows well how fragmented the country was.

The answer to colonization was an uprising that lastedtwo years (1857-1859), and here the civilized Englishmen completely recouped - the people were literally drowned in blood. And again almost a hundred years it took to gain independence. Moreover, India in the 19th century after the suppression of the uprising chose peaceful ways of struggle, which is unprecedented in the new history.

Characteristics of conquest

India in the early 19th century, like any other country,and before the English knew the conquests. However, all the newcomers adapted to the social and economic life of the new homeland. Just as the Normans became English or the Manchus - the Chinese, the aliens became part of the people of India.

The English as conquerors were very different fromall previous. Between them and the conquered territories was a real abyss of differences - how the culture of India in the 19th century differed from the culture of England, and the very way of life, the system of values, traditions and habits.

The Englishmen openly scorned the natives,entered the new world and did not let the Indians into their own. Even the simplest farmers and workers settled in India were ranked among the highest ruling class. Nothing in common, only hatred is mutual.

The British brought with them capitalism and the Westernform of government. In the first case - expanse for exploitation, in the second - the management of small feudal principalities under the control of its own colonial administration.

Colony robbery

India in the 19th century was peculiar, but extremelyrich country. The treasures of Indian rajas swam to England in a continuous stream. There is no thin without good - it was this high-calorie feeding that fueled the industrial revolution in England.

Initial direct colonial robberygradually became lawful: the East India Company plundered the country to the point of taxation. India has traded with the whole world since ancient times, now there were no moves for the Indian goods to Europe, but Indian counterparts were bursting from the British. As a result, the entire textile industry of the country came to naught, artisans were left without work.

The economy of India in the 19th century is such that the populationwas on the verge of extinction. Thousands and thousands of Indians died starving, as the governor reported in the thirties: "The weavers' bones dotted all the plains of India ..." The welfare of England, its welfare in the 19th century, is entirely the result of the plunder of the people of India.

The popular uprising

The disasters of the masses in India were not multipliedonly from exploitation and violence. The contemptuous cruelty of the English towards the local population passed all the limits of humanity. When preparations were made for the forced conversion of Hindus and Muslims into the Christian faith, discontent with the conquerors reached a peak.

Now the feud extended not only to the poor weavers,but also a large part of the local feudal aristocracy, which was significantly infringed upon by the colonial government and subjected to excessive looting. Sipai - Indian army in the service of the British - also rebelled, in May 1857, interrupting British officers and capturing Delhi.

Thus began a popular uprising that swept the entireThe northern and vast part of Central India. The British only after two years with great difficulty suppressed this insurrection. Feudal India could not wrest victory from capitalist England. The country was frightened: a huge number of people were tortured and shot. Roadside trees everywhere served as gallows. The villages were burnt together with all the inhabitants. After such tragedies, relations between India and England are unlikely to ever become cloudless.

Economic development

India in the second half of the nineteenth centurybecomes for England a market and the source of raw materials. Finished goods from India were exported so little that they are not worth mentioning, and they were all more luxuries than necessities. But fully exported: wheat, rice, cotton, jute, tea, indigo. It was imported: furniture, products made of silk, wool and leather, kerosene, glass, matches and a long, long list.

The main conquest of the British in India is the importationown capital. The loans were given under the draconian interest. Thus, financing of attempts to conquer neighboring countries, for example Afghanistan, was carried out. These loans were paid, of course, by the poor and hungry Indian peasantry.

The English capitalists invested in the processing of local raw materials, in the construction of railroads, in the jute industry, in the plantation of tea, coffee, sugar cane, and rubber.

Nevertheless, agriculture was weakso much so that the country could not even feed itself. Famine and epidemics were repeated almost every year. So, from 1851 to 1900, hunger, in which whole regions died out, was fixed 24 times. Only Englishmen, landowners and usurers are guilty of this - the "dirty trio", as the people called them.

Indian Renaissance

Endless wars and colonial expansion almostthey killed a great Indian culture: architecture, painting, all arts and all trades went into decline. I must say that the British did not fully accept and did not understand the value of Indian culture, so they did not raise the level of its level at all. To the withdrawal of the British from India (1947), almost ninety percent of the population did not know the letters in general.

However, national culture, as a song, "notsuffocating, you will not kill. "This was also India in the 19th century, when it came into contact with the West, Indian culture began profound transformations, especially in religion.

The Great Enlightener

The father of modern India, as they call himcompatriots, Ram Mohan Roy, an outstanding reformer and public figure of the beginning and first half of the nineteenth century, was the son of a brahmana. This means that he could spend his whole life "in heaven" - in peace, joy and happiness. But from sweet conversations with the gods, he descended to a sinful land - sowing seeds of knowledge and caring for the germs of feelings, as Rabindranath Tagore put it.