(6) Relations with the indigenous peoples

Question 1

Why did the Indian Mutiny begin?

Answer 1

Short term - Grievances about pay and new enfield rifle

Long term - Governor-General Dalhousie deprived nobles and landlords of their lands

Question 2

Events of the mutiny?

Answer 2

• Sepoys in Bengal refused orders in Feb 1857
• Sepoys turned on their British officers and started a mob against Europeans
• Fighting finally stopped in June 1958
• Emperor’s sons executed by British so rebels could not restore the Mughal dynasty
• In Delhi and Lucknow villages were burnt, mutineers tortured and British officers and their families murdered
• British made rebels lick the blood up of those they’d murdered

Question 3

Effects of the mutiny?

Answer 3

• Emperor’s sons executed so rebels could not restore the Mughal dynasty
• In Delhi and Lucknow villages were burnt, mutineers tortured and British officers and their families murdered

Question 4

Societal impacts of Mutiny

Answer 4

• British questioned whether the Indians could actually be ‘Westernised’
• Reports of the savagery of the Indians by the press and social-darwism increased feelings of superiority
• British tried to act more density (Negating Doctrine of Lapse) but also became more aloof
  After Viceroy Lord Cannings tour in 1859-1861
• Some land and titles were returned to Native Indians
• Star of India medals introduced
• Positions in the Statutory Civil Service posts were given to the Nobility

Question 5

Pros and Cons of British Raj

Answer 5

• British built railways but only for movement of troops and trade ( 1857 (288 miles), 1881 (9891 miles), 1900 (20,760 miles)
• British offered schemes of irrigation and land improvements but they supported British interests and only covered 6% of land (30 million acres of land irrigated, 37,000 miles of metal roads and 36,000 unmeteled roads)
• Britain provided India with cheap manufactures but this led to dependency and Indian industry could not develop
• British provided jobs but only a minority could obtain them
• Coolies of 5 year work in the Empire for low pay
• More than 6 million died in famines in India in the 1970s
• Establishment of law and order and the end of abhorrent practices such as cannibalism and human sacrifice

Question 6

Educational changes after the mutiny

Answer 6

• Universities established in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta in 1857
• Elite schools setup to produce ‘Westernised Oriental Gentlemen’
• In 30 years, 60,000 Indias went to university
• 1/3 of Calcutta students worked in government service and administration
• Mary Carpenter opened girls’ schools in Bombay and Ahmedabad and opened a college to train female Indian teachers

Question 7

Economic changes after the mutiny

Answer 7

• Growth of investment, particularly in railways
• Subsistance farming prevailed
• Tea plantation numbers rose from 1 in 1851 to 295 in 1871
• Increase in domestic production of raw cotton (£1 million in 1854 to 5,875,000 in 1876
• Wheat production began (£0 1854 - £1,647,000 1876)

Question 8

Movement of the Griqua people in South Africa

Answer 8

Discovery of diamonds at Kimberly in 1867 created a ‘diamond rush’ which lead to the British annexation of Basutoland in 1868, later 2000 Griqua trekked east to establish Griqualand East in 1873 however this was annexed by the British in 1874.

Question 9

Wars with the natives in South Africa?

Answer 9

Xhosa War 1877-1878 - Disarmed tribesmen and annexed their territory to the Cape
Zulu War - Invasion of Zulu land in 1879 and defeat of Zulus at Ulundi in 1879

Question 10

Relations with the Boers

Answer 10

• British annex transvaal in 1877 to protect them from Zulus and Pedi tribe
• British defeat Zulus in 1879
• Boers declare independence from British in 1880
• Boers turn on British - humiliating victory at Majuba Hill February 1881 (150 Britons killed)
• Britain forced to sign Pretoria Convention
• British annex Bechuanaland and make it a Crown Colony in 1885 to prevent Boers and West African German settlers uniting
• In 1886, new gold discoveries near the Transvaal capital attracted ‘Uitlanders’
• 1890 Rhodes founds fort at Salisbury

Question 11

Relations with the indigenous peoples in the dominions?

Answer 11

Aborigines in Australia were outcasts
Native Tribes in Canada were ‘encouraged’ to live on reservations
New Zealand Maoris lost much of their land to settlers

Question 12

Indian Nationalism?

Answer 12

• 1906 – All India Muslim League
• 1885 – Indian National Congress
o 1890s Moderate and Extremists
• Moderates called for gradual reform of India – government posts for educated Indians – eventual independence in a Commonwealth Framework – a white colony basically
• Extremists – cut off India from Britain

Question 13

Ashanti War?

Answer 13

Ashanti War 1900 - Ashantiland incorporated into the Gold Coast 1902