Questions and Activities
1. What is colonialism? Give three different definitions.
Answer:
- General Definition: The practice where one country takes full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
- Economic Definition: A system where a ‘mother country’ extracts raw materials from a colony and uses it as a captive market for its finished goods.
- Cultural Definition: The imposition of the colonizer’s culture, language, and education system on the native population, often justified by a “civilising mission.”
2. Was the “civilising mission” true in the case of India?
Answer: No. While the British introduced railways and English education, their primary motive was profit and control, not Indian welfare.
- Evidence:
- They destroyed thriving Indian industries (textiles).
- They allowed millions to die in famines (e.g., exporting grain during the 1876 famine).
- They dismantled indigenous village governance.
- The “civilising” narrative was often a cover for racial superiority and exploitation.
3. How was the British approach different from Portuguese or French?
Answer:
- Portuguese: Focused on naval dominance (Cartaz system) and aggressive religious conversion (Inquisition).
- French: Focused on state-building through military alliances (Sepoys) but failed to secure funding/support from home.
- British: Used a strategy of “Trade first, Rule later.” They mastered the art of “Divide and Rule,” using Indian resources (revenue from Bengal) to conquer the rest of India. They focused heavily on establishing legal and administrative structures to ensure long-term profit.
4. “Indians funded their own subjugation.” Explain.
Answer: This means the cost of British rule was paid for by Indian taxes.
- Railways/Telegraph: Built using tax revenue from Indian peasants, but served British military and trade interests.
- Army: The British Indian Army was funded by Indian revenues but used to suppress Indian revolts and fight British wars abroad (e.g., China, Africa).
- Salaries: High salaries of British officials were paid from the Indian treasury.
5. What does ‘divide and rule’ mean? Give examples.
Answer: It is a strategy to gain and maintain power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the attacker.
- Examples:
- Plassey (1757): Conspiring with Mir Jafar against Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah.
- Religious Division: Encouraging tensions between Hindus and Muslims to prevent a unified resistance (especially after 1857).
- Princely States: Using Subsidiary Alliances to isolate Indian rulers from each other.
6. Essay: Impact on Agriculture
Answer: (Brief Outline)
- Pre-Colonial: Self-sufficient villages; taxes paid in kind (share of crop).
- Colonial Impact:
- Land turned into a commodity.
- Taxes demanded in cash, forcing farmers to sell crops immediately, often at low prices.
- Commercialization: Forced growth of cash crops (Indigo, Cotton) instead of food grains, leading to food insecurity.
- Legacy: Rural debt and poverty seen today have roots in these colonial land settlements (Zamindari/Ryotwari).
7. Report: 1857 Rani Lakshmibai
Answer: The Jhansi Chronicle - June 1858
- Headline: The Warrior Queen Falls Fighting for Freedom.
- Report: Rani Lakshmibai, refusing to surrender Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse, led her forces brilliantly. After escaping the besieged fort of Jhansi, she captured Gwalior.
- Timeline:
- 1854: Doctrine of Lapse applied to Jhansi.
- June 1857: Rebellion breaks out.
- March 1858: British besiege Jhansi.
- June 18, 1858: The Rani attains martyrdom on the battlefield.
- Quote: British General Hugh Rose called her “the best and bravest of the rebels.”
8. Alternate History (Creative Writing)
Answer: (Guidance) Students should imagine an India where the Marathas or a confederacy of states modernized independently (like Japan). Perhaps the Industrial Revolution would have happened in Bengal (textiles) or Mysore (rockets/steel) without the drain of wealth. India might have remained a major global economy.
9. Role Play: Dadabhai Naoroji vs British Official
Answer:
- Naoroji: “You claim to bring order, but you drain our blood. £200 million drained annually! You starve the Indian peasant to feed the British factory.”
- Official: “But Mr. Naoroji, we gave you railways, the telegraph, and the rule of law!”
- Naoroji: “Railways to carry away our grain? Law that treats a white man differently from a brown man? This is ‘Un-British’ rule!“
10. Local Resistance Movement
Answer: (Example: Kerala - Pazhassi Raja)
- Trigger: Unfair tax on pepper and usurpation of throne.
- Leader: Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (The Lion of Kerala).
- Tactics: Guerrilla warfare in the Wayanad forests.
- Outcome: He died fighting in 1805.
- Memory: Remembered in folk songs and museums in Wayanad.