INTRODUCTION
This is a short introductory article on the British rule of India. The intent of this article is not to incite but to educate the younger generations of what really transpired during the British rule as I was personally duped. At school in Tanga when I was a British Subject living in the British Colony of Tanganyika I was taught the British brand of British Indian history which misinformed and misrepresented facts of the British occupation of India. In my high school in Tanga we were taught the British version of the Indian history which misinformed its subjects of the facts of British occupation of India, just as the British misinformed the world of the Kikuyu uprising in Kenya, which was truly an independence struggle to free Kenya of the colonial rule, and not a terrorist movement as described by the British colonial rule. Vast numbers of Indians were massacred in India and Kikuyus in Kenya but the real numbers of local dead were never reported accurately. The British came to India with the pretext of trade but the East India Company hired and armed mercenaries like Robert Clyde who waged war with Indian princely states acquiring their land by acts of war and sedition. When Bengal was stricken with famine and thousands were dying of starvation, grain was being diverted to the British soldiers fighting at the European front even thought there was surplus food at the European front. When Churchill was informed of the catastrophic Bengal famine he said it was okay for a few Indians to die as they were breeding like rabbits further questioning a colleague why Gandhi was still alive! As we know history of any time or event depends on who writes the history, which in the case of British India was written by the British historians or by British sympathizers. To illustrate further on the writing of history; in a more recent war in Iraq many Iraqi citizens died but the general public only read about the foreign invaders who died during the war and not of the local citizens who fell during the invasion of the sovereign nation, at least not until an article appeared in the British medical weekly, Lancet which reported the numbers of Iraqi dead and later Huffington Post after an extensive study reported half a million Iraqi deaths following the invasion1.
Like so many students in East Africa, I was misguided and misinformed by the history taught in British East Africa and it was only after my visit to Amritsar as a fourteen year old Boys Scout on my way to attend an International Scout Jamboree in Lahore, Pakistan, that I first learned of the falsehoods taught to me in my history class. The massacre of innocent men, women and children gathered at Jallianwala was not a mistaken notion of duty as taught to us in the British Colony but a ruthless massacre of innocent Indian men, women and children gathered in a non- violent protest by a lunatic, white supremist, Brigadier General Reginald Dyer.
The reason for this article is to pave a path for a more in-depth self-learning and self-study of the subject, with a hope that every child of Indian origin may be better informed of the facts of the 200 years of British occupation of India. Many historians with a bias have cited of the roadways and railway system that the British built, but the same historians have withheld from the reader the information that the transportation system was built to facilitate transportation of raw materials from the farms to the Indian ports for export to Britain and for the finished product from Britain to be transported to the Indian markets. These railroads and road ways were paid for by the taxes collected in India, and built by Indian laborers employed on meager wages by British companies and built at a cost 3-4 times greater than similar projects carried out elsewhere in the western world; in short the British contractors under paid the Indian laborers, and the British Taxed Indians to pay for the railroads and roads. The British truly milked the proverbial cow for their own benefit.
HISTORY
Much before the Europeans came to India, Indian, Asian, Chinese and Arab traders dominated the Asian trade sea routes, travelling west from their countries to East Africa, to the Fareast and Arabia, and also supplying goods to the Venetian, Genoese and Catalan traders of Europe. Indian textile, spices, perfumes, precious metals, carpets and porcelain2 were in great demand in Europe. The Europeans could not have enough of the Indian goods as a matter of record the Greek ladies could not do without soft Indian muslin cloth. During those days Kalinga Empire in India had mastered metallurgy, mining and gem cutting exporting its wares to the western world. Swords forged by the Kalinga people were of much superior strength, and masterfully crafted by Indian craftsman. The Indian sword was a prized possession of the European aristocracy of the times.
Indian sea-faring vessels were sea worthy but they were not built similar to thousands of European vessels that came across the Cape of Good Hope later; the Indian vessels were not armed or built as gunships like the European vessels that were fitted for conquest rather than just for trade. These European vessels came in droves from the West in sync with the Portuguese captains that came across the Cape of Good Hope.
The cape should in the author’s opinion be renamed as Cape of Bad Hope as it was the beginning of the British, Dutch and Portuguese occupation of India. It was also the beginning of atrocities that ensued with trade invasion by the East India Company and its British sponsored terrorism. During those days of foreign occupation of India, Indians were treated as third class citizens in their own country by the European occupiers, not dissimilar to how the American natives were treated in their country or for the matter African natives in Africa. The British converted India from one of the highest GDP of the time to one dependent on British goods by the time the British left the country. The British truly systemically deprived Indians of their dignity, self-esteem, leading Indians to believe that everything British was far superior to their own. Since the emancipation of India from the British in 1946 the country has gradually, over time improved its GDP and also improved its recognition as a stable democracy on the rise, but it has continued to suffer an impediment in breaking the shackles of the British Raj, as many Indians still believe that all that is British is superior!
Much of the trade by the Asians and Arabs in the early centuries was carried out based on a trade relationship and goodwill, honesty and mutual respect. At times host nations charged a payment for protection, safe passage, or for porting at their shores and a price for the privilege to trade within their domain. The Indian vessels were well equipped with navigational equipment and the Indian sailors possessed superb navigational knowledge and skill3, the Indian sailors knew the prevailing winds and the
seas well; as a matter of a historic significance Kanji Malaam a Kutchi, Gujarati trader brought spices from India to the Arab ports and brought much desired fine muslin and precious stones for traders from the west who travelled by land to the Middle Eastern ports to buy his goods. Like many other Indian traders he brought back ivory from East Africa to India, where Indian ivory artisans carved the raw material into exquisite ivory jewelry and keepsakes. History has now confirmed that the same Kutchi sailor, Kanji Malaam navigated Vasco da Gama’s Gabriel in 1497 from Malindi, a port in Kenya to Calicut in India within 23 days; the return journey however took Vasco da Gama 3 months to return to the east coast of Africa on his way back to Portugal!
King Manuel I of Portugal who sponsored Gama’s journeys had a two-fold mission in having Portuguese vessels cross the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean. He desired to reign over Jerusalem, and also wanted to dominate and control the sea route to India and to monopolize the lucrative Indian spice trade. During his rule Portugal dominated the eastern sea routes establishing a foothold in Aden and Ormuz and Malacca, which is modern day Malaysia, seizing them from the Arab dominance.
The population of India at that historic time was about five times that of Western Europe (284 million Indians compared to the about 57million Europeans). Because of the large manpower, India was able to produce and fulfill the needs of European buyers across the Indian Ocean. Riches in spices, fine textiles and India’s fabled prosperity were the catalyst that fueled the wave of European ‘invasion’ of India. In the earlier days Africa was ruled by the Bantu nation which was later influenced by the Arabs and the Persians traders leading to a mixed civilization and a formation of the Swahili City States. The present day Swahili originated as a Bantu language with Arabic and Indian words intermingled; not only did the language but also the East African food habits evolve to be of a mixed heritage. Much of East Africa before the Europeans came across the Cape was under ‘Swahili rule’ of the Sultans from Oman which was later seized by the Portuguese with incessant acts of war against the Swahili Sultanates. The Portuguese built forts and fortresses in Kenya, Zanzibar, Mozambique and later also in India to protect the territories they had seized through acts of war, concessions or conniving.
After Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut, the Portuguese made concessions with the Empire of Vijayanager to establish trade in the empire. In their later voyages the Portuguese travelled to Goa where they built Fort Aguada, which fortressed a natural spring, an important asset for the sea faring Portuguese fleet that needed to stock up on potable water for their travel back to Portugal. With territorial acquisition of India came religious conversions, religious persecution and special privileges granted to the newly converted Indians. During the British occupation of India the Parsi community, an immigrant community from Persia was favored over the other Indians mostly because of their fair skin. The Parsi community of India accumulated land and wealth during the British occupation but also in return the Parsi contributed generously to charitable causes, education and healthcare in India.
The Portuguese dominated European sea trade from 1497 to 1600, until the time the Dutch and the English sailed across the Cape. The Portuguese trading network was different from other traders in three distinctive ways:
- Portuguese built a string of strongly fortified bases at strategic naval ports to keep other Europeans traders away
- They kept ready a fleet of armed ships stationed at most ports and across the Indian Ocean that dominated and protected Portuguese trade
- The Portuguese also introduced religious evangelism to India and Africa, and to the ports they domineered, converting the native population to their brand of religion.
The headquarters of the Portuguese trading empire was established in 1510 at a captured port of Goa4, an island harbor halfway up the West Indian coast, which remained a Portuguese colony for nearly 460 years and even after India won its independence, Goa remained as a Portuguese colony. Goa was the residence of the Portuguese Viceroy, during those years and after 1542 it was the headquarters of the Jesuit order for all its operations in Asia.
British Attempts to Trade in India
In 1608 Captain William Hawkins led the first voyage of the East India Company to India and sailed into the port of Surat in Gujarat on August 24 1608. He carried with him 25,000 pieces of gold and a letter to the Mogul Emperor Jahangir seeking trade concessions in India. Portuguese pirates made several attempts to kill Hawkins and they also stole his gold, so he returned empty handed back to England. The next envoy Paul Cunning followed by nine more envoys failed to get trade concessions in India. The tenth Envoy Capt. Thomas Best (1612-1614) on behalf of the East India Company started his voyage from Gravesend on February 01, 1612 approximately four years after the first attempt by Hawkins in 1608 reaching Surat on September 05, 1612; anchoring his boat at the mouth of River Tapti in October. Capt. Best managed to get a preliminary treaty with Governor of Surat, Sardar Khan subject to a final ratification by the Moghul Emperor. The Portuguese fleet consisting of four galleons and six oared barks placed the English ships under siege. After minor skirmishes with the Portuguese, Capt. Best sailed for Diu to wait for the Moghul Emperor’s trade permission. On January 06, 1613 Best received a ratification of the treaty from the Emperor. He sent his trusted men over the land route to England with the good news and he sailed to Sumatra returning to England around April 1614.
The treaty gave East India Trading Company permission and blessing of the Mogul Emperor to establish trade in India, but it was not until the battle of Plassey –Polashir Juddho that took place in Palashi on June 23, 1757 between the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah and the East India Company when the trading company established a stronger presence in India. Siraj-ud-daulah had a very formidable army and great battle experience but a conniving British mercenary, by the name Robert Clive who was in- charge of the East India Trading Company’s army bribed Mir Jafar, commander-in-chief of the Nawab’s army to defect leading to the fall of Bengal. The company continued its occupancy in India with the blessings of the English monarchy until the Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Mutiny of the Sepoys that lasted until June 1858. The rebellion started as a Mutiny of the Sepoys on May 10, 1857 in the town of Meerut. The mutiny is at times is referred to as the first resistance against the British and the Indian rebellion of 1857 is also referred to as India’s First War of Independence. The rebellion led to a takeover of India by the British monarchy that reorganized the army, its financial system and governance of India. The Indian takeover by a foreign nation is very similar to a takeover of the Americas by the British; the only difference is that in the America’s it was a religiously persecuted English men and women that emigrated to the Americas who came to America to resettle in the Indian lands of Americas for freedom to worship their religion but who later persecuted the original inhabitants of America just as they were themselves persecuted in their country of origin. In the case of India, the British came as traders looking for trade concessions and over a hundred years took over the country by acts of war and conniving. The later take over may be easily classified and justifiably so, as a state sponsored terrorism, as the British Monarchy was complicit and profited greatly from its looting of India.
The British presence in India for two hundred years enslaved the Indian nation. The English came to India for lucrative trade opportunity; at a time when the GDP of India on a conservative estimate was around 25% but when they left, India’s GDP had dropped to a paltry 3%! Indians lost their identity and India lost its place as a wealthy commerce and education center of the world and reduced to a nation of coolies as the British preferred to call the Indians in their own country and elsewhere.
Lord Macaulay in his February 02, 1835 address to the British Parliament mentioned that he had travelled across India, that he was completely astonished by the high caliber of the people, their dignity, and the wealth that was prevalent in the country at the time. India at the time of his address was occupied by the East India Trading Company and it was not until after the First Indian War for Independence of 1857 (Mutiny of the Sepoys), that it became the British Raj. An authentication of Lord Macaulay’s address is challenged by some scholars but the author’s research substantiated the fact that Macaulay was in East India in 1835. Some contest the language in the newspaper clippings, but truly whatever the reason, India was a magnet that drew many foreign countries to establish trade with India mainly because of a potential for a profitable trade relationship, and incontestably the English systematically and in a very organized manner took over India’s ability to manufacture its own goods, export freely and freely trade with other countries and even the farmers were barred from planting crops of their free choice. Whereas India’s GDP dropped from a high 25% to 3% during the British occupancy, Britain profited greatly on India’s back to evolve as a financially dominating nation.
The British occupancy of India methodically deprived Indians of dignity, leaving it as a discarded rag; a divided nation when they reluctantly left India; the general belief was that Indians were incapable of governing India and that they would return to India in a year or two, to once again rule over India. When the British left India, they left it as a divided nation, there was so much bloodshed derived from the partition of India that the divided nations have not been able to reconcile the differences even now?
The British contributed to India, knowledge of a British system of governance, political incites of governance, British divisiveness, a parliamentary system, and a western educational system. Now seventy years since its independence from the British, India has risen just as the mythical Phoenix, to be once again recognized as world’s largest democracy and an evolving economic power. As of now India’s GDP is 2.83% compared to 3.85% of Great Britain but it is still a long way off from neighboring China
whose GDP is 14.84%! Is the rapid rise of India since 1947 due to an inadvertent, passive gift of the British occupancy or is it because of the fact that India originated from a remarkable ancient civilization of Indraprastha and Mohanjo Daro that was renowned for its intellect and culture? In the ancient days 2700 years ago India had established Takshashilla University where scholars like Chanakya were educated, where 10,500 students from the entire subcontinent of Asia attended college starting the age of
16. Charaka, Panini, Vishnu Sharma and Jivak are other notable scholars educated at Takshashilla. In today’s world Indian physicians, scholars and educators have regained a notable foothold in most countries.
