Martin Salcedo

World History
Mrs. Dewaele
December 11, 2013
Imperialism in India During the 19th and 20th Century
In the late 1800s and early 1900s western countries were modernized and they began to
colonize many countries that werent modernized. The western countries colonized India, Africa,
China, Philippines, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The causes of Western Imperialism were
economic interest, political interest, military interest, humanitarian interest, and social
darwinism. In this essay I will be talking about the cause and effects of western imperialism in
India.
The people of India didnt benefit from the imperial rule of Western Nations they were
pure victims of Western global dominance. They were pure victims of Western global dominance
because the british just wanted all the benefits for themselves. The British took all their
resources, used all their land, took advantage of the people, used Indian soldiers to fight for the
British. The British took advantage of the Indians, therefore they were victims of global
dominance.
The Indians were colonized by the British. The British conquered India because the
British army was modernized and the Indian army wasnt modernized. This is basically the only
answer to why were the British were able to conquer India. Indian soldiers who fought for the
British were called sepoys, they also helped the British conquer India.
The British conquered India for economic interests. British wanted to access to Indian
resources. The British wanted their hands on cotton, silk, spices, wood, and flavored food.

Britain wanted cotton because they didnt have cotton and needed it for their industries. They
also wanted to trade cotton for species with Indonesia so they took Indias cotton. Britain would
take the raw materials to the industries in britain and they would come back to India with the
finish product and sell it to the Indians.
Britain was able to gain a lot of positive things because they colonized the country of
India. Britain gained a lot of money from all the resources that they stoled from India. They also
gained nationalism because they felt more power and respect in their country, just because they
were modernized and they would go around colonizing unmodernized countries or regions. They
also gained a lot of land conquering countries, they were expanding and growing their empire.
My groups historical photograph represents and portrays our position about Western
Imperialism. In the picture i was wearing a blue military coat and red shirt to show I was a
British soldier. I was also holding a rifle and pointing it at maria and berenice. Maria and
Berenice were wearing a purple blanket covering their head to show they were the Indians. They
were both on their knees holding cotton in their hands to show how the British would steal the
cotton from India. We had a little boy and girl picking cotton to show how the people of India
were forced to work for the British. Clarissa was on the laid on the ground died while holding
cotton in her hands to show what the British did to the people who fought for their rights. Abigail
was wearing a white bed sheet wrapped around her head covering her hair to show she was
Indian. She was about to jump into the fire because her husband had died in a war fighting for
the British. In the back of Abi we had Elvira wearing a red shirt to represent the British. Elvira
was holding Abi from jumping into the fire to show how the British wanted and changed the
Indians religion, culture, and laws.