India in the 19th century, being a gigantic colony of little England, was reluctant to yield to the complex and contradictory process of Europeanization, since the achievements and benefits of Western civilization did not take root on this land, as, fortunately, almost all the shortcomings. The Indians did not accept the new order, since they treasured their own great culture and traditional way of life.
Conquest
The British were in no hurry - it took them almost a hundred years for India to completely lose state independence in the 19th century. True, England almost did not suffer losses, since the conquest of the country was carried out by the hands of the sepoys - Indian soldiers serving in the British.
The last to surrender was the Punjab, a state created by the great Maharajas (Prince) Singh. While the Maharajah was alive, it stood unshakable, and with his death in 1837 the power did not fall into the same strong hands. The state broke up and became a very easy prey for the British. Feudal control is far from centralized, as India knew in the 19th century. The map shows well how fragmented the country was.
The answer to the colonization was an uprising lasting two years (1857-1859), and here the civilized English fully recouped - the people were literally drowned in blood. And again, it took almost a hundred years to gain independence. Moreover, India in the 19th century after the suppression of the uprising chose peaceful ways of struggle, which is unprecedented in modern history.
Conquest Characteristics
India at the beginning of the 19th century, like any other country, knew the conquests before the British. However, all newcomers adapted to the social and economic life of the new homeland. Just as the Normans became English or the Manchus became Chinese, the newcomers became part of the people of India.
The British as conquerors were very different from all previous ones. There was a real gulf of differences between them and the conquered territories - as the culture of India in the 19th century was different from the culture of England, so was the way of life, the system of values, traditions and habits.
The Englishmen openly despised the natives, did not enter the new world and did not let the Indians into their own. Even the simplest farmers and workers who settled in India were ranked among the upper ruling class. Nothing in common, only hatred.
The British brought with them capitalism and the Western form of government. In the first case - expanse for exploitation, in the second - the management of small feudal principalities under the control of their own colonial administration.
Colony robbery
India in the 19th century was a peculiar, but extremely rich country. The treasures of the Indian Rajas sailed continuously into England. There is no silver lining - it was this high-calorie boost that nurtured the industrial revolution in England.
The initial direct colonial robbery gradually became legal: the East India Company robbed the country of taxes to the hilt. India from ancient times traded with the whole world, now Indian goods did not go to Europe, but from the English - Indian counters were breaking. As a result, the entire textile industry of the country came to naught, artisans were left without work.
The economy of India in the 19th century is such that the population is on the verge of extinction. Thousands and thousands of Indians starved to death, which was reported by the governor in the thirties: "The bones of weavers dotted all the plains of India ..." The welfare of England, its welfare in the 19th century - is entirely the result of the robbery of the people of India.
Popular uprising
The disasters of the masses in India were multiplied not only by exploitation and violence. The contemptuous cruelty of the British towards the local population crossed all borders of humanity. When preparations began for the forcible conversion of Hindus and Muslims to the Christian faith, discontent with the conquerors reached a peak.
Now the enmity swept not only the poor weavers, but also a large part of the local feudal aristocracy, which was significantly infringed on the rights of the colonial government and was subjected to excessive robberies. The Sipai, the Indian army in the service of the British, also rebelled, in May 1857, having killed the English officers and captured Delhi.
Thus began a popular uprising that swept the entire Northern and vast part of Central India. The British only two years later with great difficulty suppressed this rebellion. Feudal India was unable to snatch victory from capitalist England. They pacified the country terribly: a huge number of people were tortured and shot. Roadside trees everywhere served as gallows. The villages were burned along with all the inhabitants. After such tragedies, relations between India and England are unlikely to ever become cloudless.
Economic development
India in the second half of the nineteenth century became for England a market and source of raw materials. So few goods were exported from India that they were not worth mentioning, and they were all more luxurious than necessary. But they were fully exported: wheat, rice, cotton, jute, tea, indigo. It was imported: furniture, products from silk, wool and leather, kerosene, glass, matches and a long, long list.
The main conquest of the British in India is the import of equity. Loans were given at draconian interest. Thus, financing was made for attempts to conquer neighboring countries, for example Afghanistan. Paying these loans, of course, the poor and hungry Indian peasantry.
The British capitalists invested in the processing of local raw materials, in the construction of railways, in the jute industry, in the plantations of tea, coffee, sugar cane, and rubber.
However, agriculture was so weak that the country could not even feed itself. Hunger and epidemics were repeated almost every year. So, from 1851 to 1900, famine, during which entire regions died out, was recorded 24 times. Only the British are guilty of this, the landowners and usurers are the “dirty three,” as the people called them.
Indian revival
Endless wars and colonial expansion almost killed the great Indian culture: architecture, painting, all art and all crafts fell into decay. I must say that the British did not fully accept and did not understand the value of Indian culture, and therefore did not at all engage in raising its level. By the departure of the British from India (1947), almost ninety percent of the population did not know literacy at all.
However, the national culture, like a song, "you will not strangle, you will not kill." Such was India in the 19th century. Touching the western, Indian culture began a deep transformation. This is especially true for religion.
Great enlightener
The father of modern India, as his compatriots call him, Ram Mohan Roy, an outstanding reformer and public figure of the beginning and the first half of the nineteenth century, was the son of a brahmana. This means that he could spend his whole life "in heaven" - in peace, joy and happiness. But from sweet conversations with the gods, he descended to the sinful earth - to sow the seeds of knowledge and look after the sprouts of feelings, as Rabindranath Tagore put it.