British Empire History Y8

• Empire


  When a group of countries is led by a country or a monarch
• Colony


  A country controlled by another with settlers from the controlling countries living there
• Imperialism


  The policy of increasing a country's power by gaining an Empire
• Mandate

  The authority (power) to rule a country
• Protectorate

  A country under another country's rule
• India was very advanced and had practically everything
• East India Company


  British people who came as traders to trade with India in 1608
• Robert came as a clerk in 1744
• In 1777 the East India Company fought a battle against Bengal
• The East India Company slowly began to take over India
• The East India Company became governor of Bengal
• Reasons for Britain gaining control of India

  • Greed
  • Loot
  • Overpowering system
• In 1600 a group of Tudor merchants started an organisation called the East India Company to trade with India and make themselves rich
• In 1608 the East India Company sent its first ship to India but were unable to secure a special trading deal and found the journey difficult
• By 1700 the East India Company's trade depended on Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, who was a strict and powerful ruler
• After Aurangzeb died in 1707, his sons and grandsons fought for power and turned on each other in a scramble for riches
• Within 150 years the East India Company was making massive fortunes and even began to rule parts of the Mughal emperor's lands across India
• The East India Company continued to set up factories and trading posts in coastal ports such as Madras (now Chennai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata)
• The East India Company had set out to become traders and ended up being rulers
• From the 1750s, Britain increased its political power in India as the East India Company used its private army to wage war against local leaders
• The British signed treaties and made military and trading agreements with many of the areas that made up India
• Queen Victoria was Empress of India. 1877, the Queen's 50th Jubilee, was a celebration of British Rule in India - the Raj
• The British were able to take control of India mainly because India was not united
• The British signed treaties and made military and trading alliances with many of the independent states that made up India
• The British were very effective at infiltrating these states and gradually taking control
• The British often left the local princes in charge of the various parts of India, and these local princes were effective at maintaining British rule and gained much from being loyal to the British
• In 1857, the British East India Company faced an enormous rebellion in India that began among the Indian troops in the army (the Sepoys)
• The British wanted to conquer more lands in India and used the Sepoy army to do so, but the Sepoys found themselves fighting against fellow Indians and didn't have much reason to feel loyal to their British commanders
• The final spark came with the introduction of the Lee Enfield Rifle to the army, which involved biting the end off the cartridge, which was lubricated with beef and pork fat, offending the religious beliefs of Hindus and Muslims
• Historians disagree on the importance of the religious spark to the rebellion, with some arguing that long-term causes like economic oppression were more important
• In the lands they controlled, the British demanded high taxes and rents of ordinary Indians, and were accused of using violence and torture to keep control and collect the taxes
• The Sepoy rebellion spread quickly and involved many battles, taking fierce fighting and over a year for the British to regain control
• Anyone suspected of being involved in the rebellion was treated harshly, with many being tied to cannons and blown to pieces
• The Victorians played down the importance of the rebellion, calling it a 'mutiny' (a rebellion limited to the army), but modern historians see it as very important and the start of Indian resistance to British rule
• Conquer means to take control of an area using force
• Sepoy is the British name for an Indian soldier
• Rebellion is a struggle against authorities or rulers
• The Lee Enfield was the rifle used by the British in India
• Economic relates to money or resources
• Atrocity means an extremely wicked or cruel act, involving physical violence or injury