From Trade To Territory The Company Established Power

From Trade To Territory

The Company Established Power

Let's Recall

1. Match the following:

Column A	Column B
Diwani	Tipu Sultan
"Tiger of Mysore"	right to collect land revenue
faujdari adalat	Sepoy
Rani Channamma	criminal court
sipahi	led an anti-British movement in Kitoor

Answers:

Column A	Column B
Diwani	right to collect land revenue
"Tiger of Mysore"	Tipu Sultan
faujdari adalat	criminal court
Rani Channamma	led an anti-British movement in Kitoor
sipahi	Sepoy

2. Fill in the blanks:
(a) The British conquest of Bengal began with the Battle of ___________.

Answer; Plassey

(b) Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan were the rulers of ___________.
Answer; Mysore
(c) Dalhousie implemented the Doctrine of ____________.
Answer; Lapse
(d) Maratha kingdoms were located mainly in the __________ part of India.
Answer; South-Western
3. State whether true or false:
(a) The Mughal empire became stronger in the eighteenth century.
Answer; False
(b) The English East India Company was the only European company that traded with India.
Answer; False
(c) Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the ruler of Punjab.
Answer; True
(d) The British did not introduce administrative changes in the territories they conquered.
Answer; False

Let's Discuss

4. What attracted European trading companies to India?
Answer; The fine quality cotton and silk products, and spices (pepper, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon) attracted European trading companies to India.
5. What were the areas of conflict between the Bengal nawabs and the East India Company?
Answer; The areas of conflict between the Bengal nawabs and the East India Company were;

(a) By 1696 the company began building a fort around their settlement (on Hugli river setup in 1651).

(b) Two years later the company got zamindari rights over three villages by bribing Mughal officials.

(c) Persuaded Emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting it the right to trade duty free.

(d) Continuously presses for more concessions and manipulated the existing privileges.

(e) The company officials who were carrying on private trade were not paying duty

6. How did the assumption of Diwani benefit the East India Company?
Answer; Mughal Emperor Shah Alam - II appointed the East India Company as Diwan of Bengal in 1765, allowing it to use the vast revenue resources of Bengal to finance Company expenses, purchase cotton and silk textiles, maintain Company troops, and meet the cost of building the Company fort and offices at Calcutta.
7. Explain the system of "subsidiary alliance".
Answer; Subsidiary Alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley in 1798. According to the terms of this alliance:

1. Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces.
2. They were to be protected by the Subsidiary forces but had to pay for it.
3. If the Indian rulers failed to make payment, then that part of territory was taken away by the company as penalty.

8. In what way was the administration of the Company different from that of Indian rulers?
Answer; The difference in administration were;

1. British territories were  divided into administrative units called Presidencies. Whereas under the Indian rulers territories were divided into Districts (Zila), Paragana, Tehsil and Villages.
2. The supreme head of the administration was the Governor-General, whereas under the Indian Administrative system the supreme head was King or Nawab.
3. The British territories had a Governor whereas Indian territories were headed by Zamindars.
4. The civil and criminal court was the same in India prior to the British but the British separated the Criminal and Civil Courts.

9. Describe the changes that occurred in the composition of the Company's army.
Answer; The East India Company began recruitment of peasants for its own army which came to be known as the sepoy army. Now the soldiers were armed with muskets and matchlocks from 1820 on wards as warfare technology changed. The infantry regiments now became more important. The British began to develop a uniform military culture. Soldiers were subjected to European style training, drill and discipline.

10. Discuss the major changes that occurred in the administration of Jammu and Kashmir after 1846.

Answer; The major changes that occurred in the administration of Jammu and Kashmir after 1846 were:

(a) Three main departments - the revenue, the civil and the military were setup by Maharaja Ranbir Singh.

(b) The reorganization of judicial system and composition of penal code called the Ranbir Penal Code.

(c) The modern educational institutions were setup during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh.

(d) New departments of public work, police, accounts, forest and revenue were created and re-establish on modern lies.

(e) Land revenue reforms were introduced under Land Settlement Officer, Sir Walter Lawrence.

(f) Municipalities each for Srinagar and Jammu cities were established.