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HOW INDIA BECAME A COLONIZED REGION OF THE BRITISH
With the new powers bestowed to the company by the British ruler, the EIC was able to fight the other European merchants in the India region in order to be the largest and most powerful of the groups. It also allowed the EIC to wage war on the states in the Indian region including Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab (governor) of Bengal during the Battle of Plassey in 1757. -
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HOW INDIA BECAME A COLONIZED REGION OF THE BRITISH
This would be just the beginning, however, because the European taste for spices, textiles, and jewelry would lead to further establishments in the region. The British were not the only nation interested in the trading of Indian spices; the EIC (East India Company) had to compete with Dutch, French, and Portuguese merchants. -
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HOW INDIA BECAME A COLONIZED REGION OF THE BRITISH
9 years later, the EIC fought the Mughal emperor and the Nawab of Oudh to gain control of Bihar and Oudh. For the rest of the 18th century, the EIC expanded south taking control over the Madras and Carnatic regions via alliances with rulers and military campaigns. While doing this, the company started to hire Indian soldiers into their army of 250,000. -
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HOW INDIA BECAME A COLONIZED REGION OF THE BRITISH
This was against the Indian soldier’s religion, so they replied with a mutiny. The Sepoy mutiny of 1857 led to the direct control of the territories previously captured by the EIC by the British crown. The British Crown did not want to lose total control of the region, so they stepped in to keep that region under its control. The British Crown established the British Raj to rule over India after taking over for the EIC. -
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HOW INDIA BECAME A COLONIZED REGION OF THE BRITISH
In 1858, the Government of India Act transferred full governing authority from the EIC to the British government. 18 years later in 1876, Queen Victoria of the British Empire was named empress of India.
Over the next 71 years, the British rulers were being challenged left and right by their ruled peoples. One such challenge was the Salt March in 1930 which was a nonviolent show of civil disobedience led by Gandhi. -
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HOW INDIA BECAME A COLONIZED REGION OF THE BRITISH
They were protesting the British monopoly on salt. By the end of World War II, the British were ready to give up rule in India which led to Indian independence and the partition of the ruled area into two separate nations- Pakistan and India. When the British walked away, India/Pakistan was no longer one of the wealthiest regions in the world, they were among the bottom in wealth.