CBSE Class 8 Social Science Colonisation Of India Notes

CBSE Class 8 Social Science Colonisation of India Notes. Learning the important concepts is very important for every student to get better marks in examinations. The concepts should be clear which will help in faster learning. The attached concepts made as per NCERT and CBSE pattern will help the student to understand the chapter and score better marks in the examinations.

COLONISATION OF INDIA

INTRODUCTION

• During 17th and 18th century, India had trade relations with many European powers. Such trade was mainly a maritime trade.
• The rulers of European countries framed economic policies to protect their countries overseas trade interests against foreign competition. This was called mercantilism.
• Mercantilism led to intense rivalry among countries and resulted in wars on land and sea. The first European traders were Portuguese, Dutch, French and England.

Establishment of British trade settlement in India :-

The English East India Company established trade settlements run by company's recruits called factors. These settlements were called factories.

Factory :-

Consisted of godown for goods and office for maintaining records and residential quarters for the company servents. British traded in Indian textile, Indigo, spices, saltpetre and established 1st English factory at Surat in Gujarat. Soon British settlements were at Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. The French also established its trade settlements in India at Pondicherry, Mahe, Chandar Nagar and Karaikal. The disintegration of Mughal empire in India provided the ideal conditions for English & French trading companies to settle in India. English and French were trade rivals not only in Europe but also in India and this led to the 3–Anglo French wars called the CARNATIC WARS (1744–1763). English called Coromandal coast as Carnatic region.

The first Carnatic war (1746–1748)

The main cause of this war was the England and France were rivals in Austrian war which broke out in Europe in 1742. England and France took opposite sides. Their interest clashed in America & India and so England and France come into war in India too and when war ended in Europe in 1748, it ended in India too in 1748. In this war the French had captured Fort St. George from Britain in India but at the end France gave it back to Britain and the war raised the prestige of Duplex i.e. French Governir and French also defeated Nawab Anwar-ud-din & Arcot.

The Second Carnatic War (1749–54)

Robert Clive, the clerk of English East India Company had understood the importance of French victory, was an ambitious & daring person, he attacked Arcot and captured it and French lost the war and had to pay heavy war indemnity and the new Governor General of French had to enter into a treaty with English known as the Treaty of Pondicherry.

The Third Carnatic war (1756–1760)

When 7 year war broke out in Europe, the war started in India too. This time the new Governor Lally of French was determined to Dust the English out of India but coincidently failed and was defeated badly. The French lost all their possession in India.

Conclusion :-

After the 3 long Carnatic wars, French post were confined to Pondicherry, Yanam, Mahe and Chandarnagar in India.
• After the 3 Carnatic wars, British established Indian Army to protect its Indian trade settlements from hostile local rulers and rival European companies and tales on British colonised India with the help Indian Army.

Composition of the Army :-

•British army consisted of Royal troops who were only Britishers.
• The other group counsisted of company's troops which consisted of both European and Indian soldiers.
• The Indian soldiers were called SEPOYS. They belonged to company troops and the highest position was that of a subedar – meaning officer.
• All high posts were reserved for Europeans.

Conquest of Bengal :-

• Bengal was the largest & richest (fertile) province of India under Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula, who did not permit British to expand their territories and Fortification against his orders and misusing trading rights. This gave rise to a war between Nawab Siraj-ud Daula and British. called the Battle of Plassey (Palashe) in 1757.
• British Government bribed the military commander in Chief Mir Jafar and won the battle. Siraj-ud-Daula was defeated and killed and the company made Mir Jafar, the new ruler in return for a large sum of money, the Zamindari (right to collect revenue) of 24 parganas in Bengal and right to free trade.
• Battle of Plassey brought a turning point for the British. It trasformed the company from a mere traders to rulers.
• Later, Mir Jafar also failed to meet the heavy monetary demands made by the company. The company detnroned Mir Jafar and made his son-in-law (Mir Qasim) the ruler of Bengal who in return gave company the zamindari of Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong.

Battle of Buxar 1764 :-

• Mir Qasim as a Nawab of Bengal, tried to maintain his control over Bengal and denied undue trade privileges to British. So the British declared war against him and defeated in 1763 and once again restored Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal and thus in Battle of Buxar, British gained unquestioned authority over Bengal..

Results of Battle of Buxar :-

• After the death of Mir Jafar, the new Nawab handed over military powers, judicial powers to the company.
• After Bengal, Robert Clive, British Officer occupied Awadh and converted into a Buffer state (Neutral zone).
• Shah Alam II, issued a farman (a royal order) in 1765, which granted the company, the diwani (office of revenue collector) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa on permanent Bases.
• Soon, company gained complete control over revenue collection, military and criminal jurisdiction and the Nawab was a mere puppet without any powers but had full responsibilities, where as, company enjoyed full power without any responsibilities. This was the system of Dual government.

Bengal under Dual Government :-

• Dual government means a system in which both, the Nawab and Company will adminitser the provinces. In this type of government :-
• The Nawab has all the responsibilities but no powers. The company enjoys all powers but no responsibilities.
• Under this system, people of Bengal suffered a lot. Oppression by company servents forced them to abandon their lands.
• But when Warren Hastings became the Governor Generalof Bengal in 1772, he ended this system of Dual government.

Expansion of British Empire in India :-

• British policy of Expansion was based on 4 method :-
1. By conquest
2. By subsidiary Alliance
3. By Doctrine of Lapse
4. By system of mal Administration

• Warren hasting in 1773, was the Governor General of all Indian possession of the company.
• Calcutta was his headquarter and the company had direct control over Bengal, Madras and Bombay. British also had indirect control over Awadh and Carnatic.
• Other 3 major Independent Native powers in Deccan region were

(i) Marathas
(ii) Nizam of Hyderabad
(iii) Hyder Ali of Mysore.

• In order to expand power & territories in India English fought 4 Mysore wars.

The First Mysore War (1767–1769) :-

• English defeated Hyder Ali and took possession of one of his fertile provinces. But Hyder Ali did not get discouraged.
• Even Hyder Ali sent his troops to Madras. The English were frightened and a treaty was signed in 1769, in which all that was conquered were restored to either side.
• Also English promised Hyder Ali come to rescue if attacked by any other powerful local ruler.

The Second Mysore War (1780–84) :-

• In 1771, Marathas attacked Mysore and English did not help as promised. Infact, English captured mains seaport of French which was very important to Mysore for European trade.
• In 1780, Hyder marched against Marathas and plundered the towns of Porto Novo and Kanjeevaram, Arcot, the capital of Carnatic and also involved his son Tipu Sultan.
• Hyder Ali wanted them to vacate the port, which English had captured. The English refused to do this. hence second Mysore took place in (1780–84).
• Hyder Ali died in the middle of war in 1782 leaving his son Tipu Sultan to continue the struggle. Ultimately the treaty of Mangalore was signed in 1784 which restored all conquests made by either side.

Third Mysore (1790–92)

• Lord Cornwallis (1786–92) was the Governor General of Bengal. There was an intense rivalry between the English and Tipu Sultan because bothwere aiming at political supremacy over the Deccan.
• The immediate cause of the 3rd Mysore war was the attack by Tipu Sultan on Travancore, who ruler was all ally of the company
• The English formed an alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam and be be sieged Tipus capital Seringapatam. They compelled Tipu to sign a treaty. This treaty ended Tipu's dominant position in south. He had to surrender territories to the Marathas, the Nizam of Hyderabad as well as to the English and had to pay heavy war indemnity.

Fourth Mysore war :-

• Lord Wellesley was the Governor General of Bengal.
• Tipus was determined to avenge his defeate in the third Anglo-Mysore war.
• He fortified his capital & recruted fresh soldiers for his cavalry.
• The Governor General Lord Wellesley tried to revive the alliance with the Nizam and the Marathas.
• The fourth Mysore war was of avery short duration. Tipu's capital Seringapatnam was captured by the British.
• Tipu did while defending his capital. The English took control of large port of Mysore including Canara, Coimbatore and Seringapatnam. The French who had fought on the side of the Tipu Sultan made also eliminated from India.
• Subsidiary Alliance :- Lord Wellesley introduced the system of Subsidiary Alliance the aim was to establish British supremacy in India.
• An Indian ruler had to maintain British troops at his own cost or ade some territories for the purpose.
• Expel all non English foreigners from his state.
• Allow the British to supermise his relations with other Indian states.
• Accept a British resident in his court.
• In return, British promised to protect his state from invasions. However, the British reserved the right to depose his in case of any lapse.
• The Maratha wars :- In 1770, there were many mutual conflicts in maratha taking advantage of disunity, British interfered in the internal affairs of Marathas. This led to 3 Anglo Maratha wars 1775–1818.
• The First Anglo Maratha War (1775–1782) :- In this war Daulat Rao Sindhia and Raghuji Bhonsle II, the two maratha leaders defeated by British and treaty of Salbai was signed in 1782. Though British did not gain much from this war they were able to gain peace from Marathas for next 20 years.

The second Anglo Maratha war (1803–1805) :-

The two Maratha chiefs, Scindia & Bhonsle were forced to accept Subsidiary Alliance when they refused the war between Marathas and British took place in 1803. Both, Scindia and Bhonsle were defeated and were left with no option but to enter into subsidiary alliance with the English.
This was gave a severe blow to Maratha prestige.

The Third Anglo Maratha war :- (1817–1818).

As Bhonsle and Holkers were not satisfied with Subsidiary Alliance, they declared war against British. Once again both were badly defeated and forced to surrender.
Later the officer of Peshwa was abolished. He was given a pension for life.

Conclusion :- The mightly power of the Marathas came to an end and by 1818 the English had become a paramount power in India.

Causes of Maratha Failure :-

1. British took advantage of the differences among the Maratha Chiefs.
2. Marathas had lost some of their most able leaders by the end of 18th Century.
3. Marathas lost all their resources in wars.

Sikh wars (1845–1849)

Maharaja Ranjit Singh has internationally avoided confrontation with the British and wanted to consolidate his power. He was truely called. 'the Lion of Punjab'. After his death in 1839, there was unrest in Punjab caused by the agents of the British, who could never tolerate a strong state on their frontiers. During the unrest, three sons of Ranjit Singh were killed one after another and the youngest son Dalip Singh, a minor, was put on the throne. Rani Jindan, his mother, became regent. The corrupt chiefs of Punjab carried on their intrigues against their prince. The political isntability offered an ideal opportunity to the British to conquer Punjab. Finally when the sikh army was ordered to cross the Satluj in December 1845, the First Anglo-Sikh war (1845-46) began. The Sikhs were defeated and the British army marched on to Lahore. The treaty of Lahore was signed in March 1846. It resulted in the annexation of the Jalandhar Doab between Beas and Satluj by the British, reduction in the strength of the Sikh army and handling over of Jammu and Kashmir to Raja Gulab Singh Dogra who sided with the British. The Sikhs were also required to pay an indemnity (Rupees five Lakh) to the British. The British resident, who was placed at Lahore, later became the virtual ruler of Punjab.

The second Sikh War (1848–49) was fought during the time of Lord Dalhousie. The British resident faced numerous local revolts on account of the bad treatment meted out to the Sikh chiefs. In the two battles fought at Chillianwala and Gujarat, the British suffered heavy losses but the Sikhs were finally forced to surrender Lord Dalhousie annexed the whole of Panjab Raja Dalip Singh was pensioned off and sent to London. The British made Gulab Singh the maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The British also got Kohinoor diamond as a present to Queen Victoria.

LORD DALHOUSIE

Doctrine of Lapse :-

• In order to expand British empire in India, Lord Dalhousie introduced a new policy under which :-
• A dependent state would pass into the hands of British if the ruler died without a natural heir.
• Under this policy British annexed Satara, Sambalpur, Jhansi and Nagpur.
• Eg. – Nana Saheb was the adopted son of Baji Rao II and he was not accepted as ruler by British.
• Lord Dalhousie abolished the titles and pensions of the heirs of childless Indian rulers and annexed their territories.Tanjore and Carnatic were annexed in this way.
• Eg. :- British abolished the title of Mughal Emperor after Bahadur Shah II.
• British Government followed one more policy to expand its control that was the system of mal administration.
• Awadh was annexed on the pretext of Maladministration by British.

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