india Flashcards
- What is the difference between the historical India and the present-day country of the same name?
Historical India consists of present-day India, Pakistan and Bangla Desh
- How was India different from, for instance, South Africa when the first Europeans arrived there?
It consisted of a number of highly sophisticated societies, a long history, and some groups had a long reputation as fierce fighters.
It consisted of a number of highly sophisticated societies, a long history, and some groups had a long reputation as fierce fighters.
It absorbed them and they left behind their nomadic and conquering lifestyle to settle (and become ‘farmers’.
- Why may we call Hinduism a ‘ highly adaptable’ religion? How has this both served the Indian people well and also held them back for a long time?
- Adaptable because it tends to absorb elements of other religions and the conquerors who brought these religions to India
- There are elements in it that can be called ‘fatalistic’ and thus keep the people from rising up against oppression.
- Who was the first European ruler to invade India?
Alexander the Great
- How was the Muslim rule of the 13th century different from the earlier invasions?
It had much more impact on all aspects of life (as the Muslims did not come peacefully –p destroyed Hindu temples etc.) and did not let their religion get ‘absorbed’(at least, not at first, and later only from the top down).
- Who were the Mughals and in what ways was their religious tolerance expressed?
- Mughals were a Muslim dynasty who built a strong central rule from the heartland of India and conquered a great part of the country.
- They intermarried with Hindus and allowed elements of other religion into their Muslim faith so that it became an ‘amalgam religion’ for a while.
- Who were the Marathas and how could they undermine the strong Muslim influence of the Mughal rulers?
Essentially Hindu guerrillas who had a ‘protection money’ racket going and who were never decisively beaten.
- What other groups made, through waging war on the Mughal Empire, the conquest of India by the English a great deal easier than what might have been expected?
Rajputs and Sikhs (and the Persians, who invaded at the time).
- Mention two examples of French successes in India which led to a greater involvement of the British in the 18th century.
- The French East India Company (and its profits)
* The Capture of Madras by the French
- The French East India Company (and its profits)
* The Capture of Madras by the French
A small prison into which too many British prisoners were stuffed, so many died. It seemed to show that the Indians were uncivilised, barbarians.
- How did economic considerations greatly help Clive’s conquest of a great part of India?
He had the backing of bankers (Hindus) who would rather back the British with their money than the Muslims (who were, in great parts of the subcontinent, the rulers).
- And how did Clive’s victories, in turn, influence a greater interest in Britain for this new ‘colony’?
Suddenly having an empire seemed to ‘pay’
- Why was the way in which the East India Company used its power in India what we call now a ‘worst-case scenario’?
It stimulated its employees to bribe, extort, cheat and embezzle as it simply did not pay them enough to live on, but gave them the power to deal with the Indians virtually without supervision of any government.
It stimulated its employees to bribe, extort, cheat and embezzle as it simply did not pay them enough to live on, but gave them the power to deal with the Indians virtually without supervision of any government.
Mainly failure to pay taxes, mismanagement in general and finally the Mutiny.
