Land and People

Geography

India (South Asia) comprises three main geographical regions: - The largest and most important is the Indo-Gangetic plain, an extremely fertile area shaped by the Indus and Ganges rivers, extending from Pakistan across Punjab to Bengal (now Bangladesh), where it forms the world’s largest delta with the Brahmaputra river. Historically, this fertile plain has supported ancient settlements and India’s historical capitals, Delhi and Calcutta (Kolkata). - To the north, the Himalayan mountain range forms a formidable natural barrier, limiting invasions primarily to the northwestern routes. - The southern region features coastal strips conducive to trade and ports, bordered inland by the hills of the Western and Eastern Ghats and the elevated Deccan plateau.

Deomgraphy

Hinduism is the core religion of India but in certain areas. Islam, Sikhism and Buddhism are more prevalent. The religion distribution was rather sparse.

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Religious and linguistic sensitivities and tensions exist due to Muhgal Empire and geological factors.

The Caste System is a key component of Indian society. Caste membership, which is largely defined by birth, determines which occupations may be followed, whom one may marry and even the extent to which one may appear in public. It contributes to Nationalism through its breakdown by the British.

Powers

Mughals

see -> [[RV prac/history/India/BEIC Before 1858/1 Mughals and BEIC|Who were the Mughals]]

Islam

Many people converted themselves to Islam to escape from their low caste in Indian society.

Marathas

Be called proto-nationalist. Although not have a big number of army, they were able to threaten the European.

Sikhs

In the sixteenth century, encouraged to a certain extent by tolerant and multicultural Mughal emperors, religious leaders in the Punjab created a deliberate fusion of Hinduism and Islam, which became known as Sikhism. Later developed into a distinctive identity with a militant attitude and military discipline.

BEIC

Regular English contact with India began in the early 1600s as a result of Elizabeth I granting a charter to the East India Company giving it monopoly trading control.

Intervention: - Ban of Sati and thuggee: [[RV prac/history/India/BEIC Before 1858/Governor-Generals/8 Dalhousie|8 Dalhousie]] - Annexation (Doctrine of Lapse)

The Indian Mutiny 1857

see -> [[RV prac/history/India/BEIC Before 1858/9 Indian Uprising 1857/cause| Indian Mutiny (files in same directory)]]

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Raj and Renaissance

A new beginning: crown control

see -> [[RV prac/history/India/BEIC Before 1858/10 Government of India Act 1858|10 Government of India Act 1858]]

Raj means rule in Indian.

Victoria

There was considerable warmth in the relationship between Queen Victoria and India.

The origin of this mutual admiration lies in the famous ==Royal Proclamation of 1858==, deliberately written by Viscount Canning, the first viceroy, to suggest personal respect for Indians and interest in their advancement.

This part of the proclamation was interpreted by the British as a policy to develop, cautiously, the involvement of Indians at all levels in the administration. On the Indian side, it would come to be seen as laying the foundations for self-government.

Religion

The act respected all religion in its law, but laid the foundations for demands in the nationalist movement for recognition of separate political rights for different religious communities. This in turn became the demand for partition into separate nations based on religious preference.

Indian social renaissance

Entry to the Indian Civil Service was too hard

==The Indian Civil Service (ICS)== was an efficient organisation actually to run government in India. Entry to the ICS was by examination (although only since 1853) and educated Indians were now free to apply.

According to one historian, only 12 Indians had entered the ICS through open examination by 1887. As a consequence of growing resentment, the examinations were switched to India in the 1890s but by 1913 Indians were only 5 per cent of the ICS.

Investment to Education

There was huge expansion of higher educational opportunity and the lower levels of bureaucracy were filled with Indian civil servants, matched by a slow withdrawal of Britons willing to work in the same grades.

The growth of education in the English language and of professional employment gradually created an Indian middle class which was to become the fertile soil of the nationalist movement.

Transportation

The railway network expanded relentlessly, partly for military and governmental reasons, partly to stimulate trade and economy and partly to prepare for the transportation of foodstuffs in the likelihood of failed monsoons and regional famines.

Formation of Congress

The Ilbert Bill

==Ilbert Bill== was a rational consequence of increasing numbers of Indians entering the legal profession and the judiciary, as qualified and experienced as any Briton.

Although it would be tempting to see the formation of the ==Indian National Congress== in 1885 as a response to the Ilbert Bill, its origins have been discerned in the imperial durbar of January 1877.

The first Congresses were indeed more like educational meetings than political conferences. In due course, however, Congress, as it quickly became known, would become a recognisable political party and the driving force for nationalism and full independence over the next 50 years.

The Aligarh movement (formation of Muslim League)

In 1875, ==Sir Syed Ahmed Khan== founded the Muslim Anglo-Oriental College. Besides education in Islamic studies and the Urdu language, much emphasis was placed on studying Western science, literature and history. In 1913, it became a full university.

==The Aligarh movement== rejected involvement in any agitation and members were told not to join the Congress Party after its formation in 1885. However, this was as much because there was also a determination to secure special political representation for Muslims. This led to the formation of a political organisation (party), the All-India Muslim League in 1906 (see below).

1892 The Indian Councils Act

==1892 Indian Councils Act== modestly increased the number of Indians on local councils

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Imperialism and Nationalism

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