British Imperialism Dbq Analysis

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Gandhi once said, “the collectors of revenue and the policeman are the only symbols by which millions in India’s villages know British rule.” This was certainly true, but how did this become the reality for Indians, and why? Everything began in the 1600s, when India caught the British East India Company’s eye. The trading posts they had set up in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta were kept under control by India, until the Mughal Empire collapsed in 1707. The commerce enterprise then took over until 1857, when a rebellion caused the East India Company executives to call in the British government, who comfortably settled into the role of governing 350 million Indians. The British rule over India was efficient, caused railroads for trade and transportation …show more content…
Lalvani says that Indians were educated in Britain, and this is true. Yet, according to the statistics in document 5, the percentage of illiteracy in India was still a staggering 84 percent when the British left. Britain only educated handpicked, elite Indians, localizing the knowledge in a select few, which made sure the majority of residents in India were unable to learn. Throughout British rule, heath and life expectancy were both improved dramatically (Lalvani). However, British rule also left 58 million dead bodies in its wake (Doc. #7). India lost many residents to the British, and no matter how many years are added on to someone’s life, it can’t make up for the massive amounts of death. So, yes, the British did bring longer, healthier lives and education, but only to a select few, and at the cost of millions of lives …show more content…
Dr. Lalvani painted the British into a picture of a productive government that introduced India to modern life through infrastructure, medicine, and education. There’s a dark side to this neat, pretty story, starting with the lack of control over leadership the Indians were granted. This led to forced cash crop growth and purchase of cheap fabric, which devastated the economy and caused millions of deaths from preventable famines. Britain brought many changes to India, some beneficial, but to overlook the overwhelming amount of negative impacts from British Imperialism is to undermine the massive struggle the Indian people went through, and are still experiencing, to an extent, today as a result of an inequitable British
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