The history of India knows many periods of decline and prosperity. This amazing country now grew rich, using its natural treasures, then quickly became impoverished, finding itself under the heel of the next conquerors. These included the British, who ruled there recently. In general, India is a unique case (the first in modern history) when a rather large state was completely turned into a colony.
More interestingly, the British managed to capture India relatively easily, taking advantage of the contradictions and venality among the local nobility. They finally occupied the country in 1849, when they defeated the Sikhs in Punjab. But how was the governance of India organized? After all, no one had experience with such huge colonies yet!
The beginning of the creation of the administrative apparatus
The East India Company began to take over India. Simply put, the victory over the Sikhs was more likely an indicative act, since the country became a colony long before those events. The first governor-general was (1774–1785) W. Hastings, a protege of merchants.
For a long time, they ruled the newfound colony at their discretion, and not so many metropolitan countries were divided from such arbitrariness. Everything changed after the exemplary Hastings process took place, after which the merchants were decidedly removed from control.
Since the management of India by the leadership of the East India Company was organized, which was far from enthusiastic about such a turn of events, they began to put pressure on them, hinting at the need to transfer the reins of power into the hands of the queen and parliament.
By 1813, the company had the status of only an administrative managing center, which did everything in order to send as much wealth and resources as possible to the UK.
The consequences of mismanagement
How was the governance of India organized during this period? In general, there was nothing special: the Governor General and the governors of the provinces were appointed. They were responsible for collecting taxes, for suppressing uprisings. The entire administrative structure was "written off" from other English colonies. But once again it is worth repeating that India is a large and very difficult country.
The British practically did not take into account either her caste or disagreements between the peoples who inhabited this territory, not to mention their religious preferences. The results of inept policies were not long in coming, manifesting themselves in the form of a sepoy uprising, which began in May 1857.
Incidentally, it happened again due to the disregard of the British for the faith and culture of their conquered subjects: it was strange to expect something else after the introduction of packages for cartridges soaked in beef fat. And this is in India, where the cow is the embodiment of God on earth!
Dissolution of a trading company
After the brutal suppression of the sepoy uprising (Vereshchagin has a corresponding picture), it was necessary to search for those responsible. More precisely, the scapegoats. The East India Company, which was immediately disbanded, became such a culprit. It happened in 1858.
At that time, India was formally accepted as a normal citizenship into the
British Empire. Of course,
Queen Victoria, who at that moment reigned on the throne, was proclaimed empress. The governor-general post was abolished, but the
vice king of India appeared. The solution of urgent tasks in the administration of the colony (all the same, India remained to it) was entrusted to the newly created profile ministry in parliament. Many more important reforms have been carried out.
Military reform
As might be expected, the Sipai regiments were completely disbanded. The number of the British themselves in the army increased significantly; they began to widely use mercenaries from among the Sikhs and Gurks. Thus, British India received at its disposal a powerful force that could “roll out” any discontent even before it would develop into new uprisings.
Other changes
The queen promised to respect kinship among local rulers, agreeing not to impede the succession of the throne. The British finally began to take into account the features of the caste system, forbade the appointed managers to arbitrarily raise the cost of land rental. This is how the management of India was organized in those years.
But all this became only a screen: in 1835 it was decided to educate the sons of the Indian nobility in England. So that they, remaining blood by the Indians, in the soul turned into the British. Two decades later, the universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras began to work, where the new elite forged. Throughout India, the number of various schools and colleges was constantly increasing, in which English professors taught in English.
And this is not to mention the fact that many offspring of especially wealthy families were educated in the same Oxford. This is how truly British India came into being: it was precisely those people who in all respects agreed with the policies of the mother country and did not stand on ceremony, if necessary, with their own tribesmen, who became more or less significant posts in
local government bodies .