Company administration and colonial economy
Economic impact: handicrafts, commercial crops, plantations, railways
Practise 3 PYQsConcepts to cover
- Deindustrialisation: one-way free trade, loss of court patronage, ruin of weavers and artisans in the first half of the nineteenth century
- Shift to cash crops (cotton, jute, indigo, opium, wheat) for export; forced commercialisation and famine vulnerability
- Nij and ryoti indigo systems, planters' coercion, and the fall of indigo after synthetic dyes in the 1890s
- Tea, coffee and overseas plantations; indentured emigration and its abolition in 1917 to 1920
- Railways from 1853, guarantee system, telegraph and post, and their role in commercial penetration
- Mercantile monopoly 1757-1813, free-trade industrial capitalism 1813-1858, finance imperialism after 1858
Where to study
A Brief History of Modern India · Rajiv Ahir (Spectrum)
- ch. 28 Economic Impact of British Rule in India
Our Pasts III, Class VIII, Chapter 3: Ruling the Countryside
- ch. 3 Ruling the Countryside, pp. 1-13 (printed 26-38)
- ch. 3 Ruling the Countryside, Crops for Europe, p. 5 (printed 30)
- ch. 3 Ruling the Countryside, Crops for Europe, pp. 5-6 (printed 30-31)
- ch. 3 Ruling the Countryside, How was indigo cultivated?, pp. 7-9 (printed 32-34)
- ch. 3 Ruling the Countryside, The Blue Rebellion and After, pp. 10-12 (printed 35-37)
India’s Struggle for Independence, 1857–1947 · Bipan Chandra and others
- ch. 7 An Economic Critique of Colonialism, pp. 91-101
Themes in Indian History Part III, Class XII, Theme 9 Colonialism and the Countryside: Exploring Official Archives
- Theme 9 Colonialism and the Countryside, 3.4 Then came the cotton boom, pp. 23-25 (printed 249-251)
- Theme 9 Colonialism and the Countryside, 3.4 Then came the cotton boom, pp. 24-25 (printed 250-251)
Our Pasts III, Class VIII, Chapter 7: Women, Caste and Reform
- ch. 7 Women, Caste and Reform, Who could produce shoes?, p. 8 (printed 85)
Our Pasts III, Class VIII, Chapter 8: The Making of the National Movement: 1870s-1947
- ch. 8 The Making of the National Movement: 1870s-1947, People's initiatives, p. 10 (printed 102)