Colonialism on india

Print this page East India Company British involvement in India during the 18th century can be divided into two phases, one ending and the other beginning at mid-century. In the first half of the century, the British were a trading presence at certain points along the coast; from the s they began to wage war on land in eastern and south-eastern India and to reap the reward of successful warfare, which was the exercise of political power, notably over the rich province of Bengal.

Colonialism on india

British Colonialism in India Colonialism is a distinct form of imperialism in which a colonizing nation Colonialism on india direct controls over a colonized state by military, economic, and political means.

The forceful widespread intrusion of a colonizing nation naturally causes an irreversible change in all dimensions of the colonized state, the lives of the people, and the social architecture.

To achieve the primary objective of colonialism, creating wealth for the colonizing nation and its people, many different groups, including women and children acting synergistically, must contribute. India forms an excellent case study, beginning with the children of imperial officials themselves.

During the period between and a large number of British children either went to India with their parents or were born there.

Colonialism on india

The exact number of British children in India at any given time during that period is unclear, as sources of information about British children in the Indian subcontinent are scanty. If all of these writings are read as a corpus, a picture emerges about British childhood in India.

British Colonialism in India | benjaminpohle.com

The available documents relate the experiences of children from British families ranging from lower-middle class to upper-middle-class. Infant Mortality A major anxiety for British families in colonized India was the high rate of infant mortality. In the Bengal presidency between andthe average death rate was about per thousand British children under the age of five, while in England during the same period the mortality rate was about 67 per thousand.

The grief of losing children was expressed time and again by British mothers. Theon Wilkinson, who studied tombstones in India, documented the repeated misfortunes of some families.

The rate of infant mortality decreased as the century progressed, but it was still high enough to create anxiety and perceived helplessness among British mothers.

Wet Nurses, Ayahs, and Bearers In the subcontinent, British mothers generally depended on Indian wet nurses to nurse their children, as European wet nurses were not available and British physicians advised mothers not to breast-feed their own children since the climate was thought to be too debilitating.

The wet nurses, commonly called ammahs, were low-caste Hindus or Muslims. Many memsahibs British married women in India hired an Indian wet nurse for the infants and Indian ayahs nurses for the other needs of their children, although many greatly disliked the idea.

Besides having an ayah, many Anglo-Indian parents hired a male servant, or bearer, for their male children. Anglo-Indian children spent most of their waking hours with Indian servants. These domestics, serving frequently as playmates, taught the children Hindi words like bhaia brother and baba infantand often "papa" and "mama" as well.

Impact of Colonial Rule on Indian society

Children generally developed a close attachment to their ayahs and bearers and the close bond served to provide comfort to the children when the families were in transit. Racial Barriers The need to have help to raise infants forced memsahibs to hire Indian servants, but they were always apprehensive about the intimate bond between the ayah and the infant and attempted to maintain a distance between their children and the servants.

Authors of prescriptive literature discouraged any closeness between British children and the Indian servants, fearing that the children would imitate "native" habits, mannerisms, and language. This fear clearly surfaced in the mind of Julia Thomas Maitland, wife of a district judge at Rajahmundry in Madraswhen she emphasized in a letter that she did not want her daughter to learn Indian languages and grow up "like a little Hindu" Jan.

Mothers were not often successful in shielding their children from learning the local language. To check the infusion of Indian influence on their children, many memsahibs employed English women in addition to ayahs as nurses for their babies. Some tried to assuage the problem by hiring Indian ayahs who could speak English.

The British nurse and the Indian ayah were sometimes at odds with each other about their authority over the child; not surprisingly, the white nurse was usually the winner. While Anglo-Indian parents were maintaining a social distance from the Indians, however, their children, through their close relationships with the servants, were dismantling the barrier between the colonizers and the colonized.

This cross current from the children ultimately acted to erode the foundations of the empire.

Infant Mortality

Education Emma Roberts reported in that schools were established in every regiment for the children of European soldiers. Boys were educated to become noncommissioned officers, regimental clerks, and so on. The girls were trained to be wives for men of higher ranks. The letters of Sarah Terry described the education of her eight-year-old daughter and five-year-old son.

During their first year in India, Sarah taught English and math to her children at home in the morning. In the second year, both of them went to school at the Bombay Fort at 7: Transient Life of Anglo-Indian Children During the summer it was quite common that British infants suffered from heat stroke, boils, and diarrhea.

To protect children from heat-induced diseases they were taken to the hill stations by their mothers from March to October, while their fathers remained at their jobs in the plains.

Most Anglo-Indian parents believed that if their children stayed in India for too long the Indian climate and environment would weaken their constitutions, perhaps for all their lives. Even an English nurse was not a sufficient protection from this danger, so British parents sent their children to England at a very early age.Feb 17,  · At the start of the 18th century, the East India Company's presence in India was one of trade outposts.

Colonialism on india

But by the end of the century, the Company was militarily dominant over South India and. When India gained independence from Britain on August 15 , the majority of Anglo-Indians had either left or would leave soon after.

Many within the Indian Civil Service would write of the. When India gained independence from Britain on August 15 , the majority of Anglo-Indians had either left or would leave soon after. Many within the Indian Civil Service would write of the. British Colonialism in India Colonialism is a distinct form of imperialism in which a colonizing nation exerts direct controls over a colonized state by military, economic, and political means.

The forceful widespread intrusion of a colonizing nation naturally causes an irreversible. I think colonialism put India in the worst spot, “Identity Crisis”. Indian fabric traditionally went across to Europe and was the first choice of ladies in Royal Families.

It wasnt due to the skills of few; it was the wisdom and process passed over generations. European Colonization in India Why did the British colonize India and how did it effect the people already living there?

What is India like prior to the arrival of the Europeans?! India was large territory with a giant and growing British Colonialism in benjaminpohle.com

BBC - History - British History in depth: The British Presence in India in the 18th Century