British East India Company(EIC)1750 to 1850

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British East India Company(EIC)

  British government took control over the East India Company because EIC was very unjust and corrupt. Officers were exploiting Indian wealth and distorting the image of British nation. After 1707,when Aurangzeb died and the process of decline started due to the uninterested and weak successors. Mughal government couldn’t stop the state and provinces to break away. Foreign invaders were entering in the subcontinent and were taking control of country’s economy. Slowly and gradually all control went into the hands of EIC and the British.

  After Ahmed Shah in 1761, a power vacuum was created in India. EIC filled up this power vacuum not only over India but also on Indian territories. EIC was earning huge profits by bringing machine made things in bulks becoming more popular in India. On the other hand EIC had well trained army with modern weapons while Indian army was no match to their power. Most of the generals and army of EIC was ready to fight while Indian army was becoming lethargic and was not much interested to fight. It proved a moment for EIC to take over the control easily. Many total conspirators started taking advantage and helping British to expand the control. For example Mir Jafir conspired against Siraj ud Daula of Bengal and caused his defeat, Tipu Sultan was also martyred in the same way due to conspirators like Mir Sadiq. In this manner British became fearless of taking control of India.

  Many trading companies for example Portuguese, French; Dutch etc were well established in India since centuries. It was time when British decided to establish their trade monopoly over the Indians. British remained successful and their profits multiplied quickly. Collecting the wealth strengthened them and they decided to take control of government also.

India Act of 1784 

• This made the position of Governor General a royal appointment. Lord Cornwallis was appointed to this position in 1786. 

• A Board of Control replaced the East India Company’s Board of Directors, changing it from a trading concern to a sovereign body in which the Crown had direct control of Bengal. 

• A police system was developed to help in the administering of justice and maintaining law and order. 

There were some other reasons also e. g:

• Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793 making zamindars of Bengal landowners, subject to their payment of a fixed sum to the British. In 1793 this amounted to some 10% of the total sum collected by the zamindars. The Permanent Settlement secured the financial interest of the East India Company and helped Bengal to become the wealthiest province in India, allowing the British to extend their control. 

• Local rulers were persuaded to sign subsidiary alliances by Lord Wellesley who became Governor General in 1798. The local ruler continued to run their affairs while British soldiers offered protection. In return for this protection the ruler paid towards the cost of the soldiers and accepted a British resident adviser. This consolidated Britain’s power in India at little cost and extended British control. 

• The annexation of land. Hyderabad and Oudh accepted British protection with a subsidiary alliance. Mysore, Oudh, Delhi and the Marathas came under British control by the early nineteenth century, 

followed shortly afterwards by Sindh and the Punjab.

  In 1898, the policy of subsidiary alliances was also adopted by General Wellesley. Under this rule, the states were forced to sign the agreement of British protection. Under this agreement, the local rules could only retain their titles as complete internal control was in the hands of British. Local armies were almost finished and EIC was controlling the spoys. In 1880 AD, Hyderabad also went under British control and EIC became richer.

  In 1852 AD Lord Dalhousie, introduced doctrine of Lapse.  British EIC started giving interest-based loans to the rulers of the provinces. To take back these loans agreements were signed known as ‘Doctrine of Lapse’. According to this agreement British could take control of such provincial governments if male heir were not present. British EIC took over a lot of lands with the help of Doctrine of Lapse. Provincial governors were responsible to pay back loans in their life time. The sons of the rulers were responsible to pay the loan after the death of their father but if any ruler had no son, the British E.I.C had the right to confiscate his state. Many states were occupied with the help of this law e.g. Nagar, Jhansi etc. British had become much greedy of lands that they even occupied such areas that had male heirs e.g. the state of Oudh. Subcontinent was a large empire but it went into the hands of the British due to social, political, army and weaponry decline. Most of the Indians lost their properties and belongings due to the cruel British policies.

  British occupied Punjab and Sindh even if they had signed the British Protection Agreement/ the agreement of friendship. In 1809 Ranjit Singh signed the agreement of friendship but after his death in 1839 British took over control of Punjab due to the clashes of local chiefs. In 1846 the final battle of Aliwal was fought between Sikhs and British and complete control of British was established over Punjab. Sindh was another province that signed British Protection Agreement. In these days was ruled by the Ameer’s .When British decided to annex Sindh, British general Nappier provoked the Ameer’s and finally when Ameer’s attacked on British residency in 1843, they could be finally defeated and Sindh was occupied by British EIC.

  In this manner one after the other, British captured the subcontinent province by province and finally this expanded and large empire went under British control. Indians fought the final war in 1857 and were defeated in the war meant the capture of central government also and British rule could be totally established.