Overview 1 Flashcards
Name some characteristics of the East India company
- formed in 1599 in London
- joint stock company –> owned by its investors
- anyone could invest (but risks were high; e.g. ships sinking, crew dying)
- trading to the “east indies”
- similarities to a state (army, own court)
- lasted until 19th century (marginal role after 1858)
Compare England and India in 1750
India:
- a fifth of the world population
- almost 25% of the World Manufacturing Output
- Delhi larger than London and Paris together
- Mughal empire ruling over large part of India (tensions)
England:
- mainly agriculture
- 1.9 % of World Manufacturing Output
- trying to establish relationship with Mugahl empire –> unequal trading partners
–> England conquered almost the whole subcontinent in a few decades –> how?
What happened in 1757?
The East India Company won the battle of Plassey and signed a contract with the regional King that allowed them to collect taxes –> usually dated as beginning of British rule.
When did British control over India expand?
- very quickly from middle of 18th century onwards
- by the middle of the 19th century the Mughal empire was confined to one part of Delhi (only existed on paper anymore)
When did the Mughal empire expand?
- from 16th century on
- late 16th century: Emperor Akbar: expansion, philosophy, architecture, art, poetry…; period of freedom of thought, progressive, open about religion
- 17th century: Emperor Aurangzeb: religious hardliner; biggest expansion; some historians say it has become too big –> internal problems
- was at its maximum at the beginning of the 18th century
Name two aspects about the Decline of the Mughal Empire (apart from the British)
- internal factors
- fragmentation and struggle for power
- more and more provincial governors seeking independence - external factors
- incursions from Central Asia, Eurasia, and Afghanistan
BUT much more complex than this!
What was the Permanent settlement?
- tax system established by the EIC
- relied on existing structures because they did not understand the local context enough to come up with their own tax system
- chose already powerful families (Zamindar) and made them private land owners
- Zamindar had to deliver a fixed sum of taxes to the EIC every year
- Zamindar collected rent from peasant families
What were some consequences of the Permanent Settlement tax system?
- Zamindar getting highest amount of money possible out of peasant families to be able to pay the high taxes to the British (otherwise loosing their land to even richer Zamindar)
- hunger and famine increased drastically
- commodification of land and labor
- more difficult for poorer people to survive off their land
–> financial foundation of the British rule (colonialism very expensive, army, bureaucratic infrastructure etc.)
How did the EIC loose its monopoly?
- high costs of colonial enterprise (army, bureaucracy)
- had to ask the British parliament for loans
- more and more regulations
- lost their monopoly in Indian trade in 1813
- after the Great rebellion the crown took over completely
What is the “deindustrialization” of India?
after industrial revolution: decrease of manufactured goods being exported from India and increase of export of raw materials (e.g. opium, indigo, cotton)
What is the World system according to Immanuel Wallerstein?
- Core countries (e.g. Britain, Netherlands)
- Periphery:
- politically unstable etc.
- providing cheap raw materials to core countries
- cheap labor
- Semi-periphery
- Act as core on a regional level
- Providing cheap raw materials on global level
tried to describe global history of capitalism; Neo-Marxist approach
What did the legal system of the EIC company look like?
before it became like a state: judicial power over their employees but not over subjects of the Mughal empire
as a state:
- should Indian people be integrated in the laws of the EIC? –> for a long time not
- mainly non-interference with local laws
- fundamental believe in “them”/”us” divide
How did the colonial state deal with local laws?
- did not know enough about local laws to interfere
- late 18th century: first efforts to codify local laws
–> Two severe misconception with long term consequences
- Assumed written texts as source of law and not local customs –> hunt for original texts for Hindu and Muslim law;
–> overevaluation of these texts; law was much more open to debate and connected to local customs
- Assumed that multiple cultures and religious traditions were reduceable to Hindus on one side and Muslims on other side and that everyone belonged strictly to one of them
