Dear Evelyn,
Once again the British have attacked! I don't understand what drives
them to go country after country and invade peoples homes and cultures.
I have learned a lot of the European Imperialism on other countries in global
class and so I thought that I would share a piece of my knowledge with you.
British already had many colonies and controlled some land in India,
but they thought that India was the "jewel in the crown" out of all the
colonies. They "loved" India because it was a major supplier of raw materials
and could also be a large market for the British made goods. Can you believe
the people of India had to make the products and then had to buy it themselves?
I would have been so upset over all of this, and so were the Indian people.
Around 1757 the leading power in India was the East India Company,
which was also called the "British East India Company" because the British
were the ones who controlled it all. They didn't want the Indian people
to rebel, so they set up restrictions. The British held much of the political
and economical power and had racist attitudes towards the Indian people.
Naturally, the Indians began to rebel against the British because they felt
they were being pushed around to much and were being robbed of their culture.
They refused to be converted into Christianity and decided it was time for
change. On the other hand, the British had all the advantage on their side
because the Indian people couldn't unite to rebel against them for many
reasons. They had weak leadership and had serious religious cultural splits,
especially between the Hindus and the Muslims. All of this is known as the
Raj. The Raj is the period of time between 1757 - 1947, when India was under
British rule.
But, not everything was negative. The British helped India by improving
sanitation and public health. Railroads were built, which enabled India
to develop a modern economy. Schools, colleges were founded and more people
were able to learn how to read and be educated. As you can see, the British
not only invaded the country, but it also helped it in someway, even if
its for they're own benefit. However, that doesn't justify their actions.
~Monica M.
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