why India was such an important assest in the Victorian Era - Writers Forum

KTK · 05-06-2005, 09:59 PM

Hi Everybody,
I am doing some research for a class that I'm taking and was wondering if anyone has any ideas or answers to the question:
"why India was such an important imperial asset in the Victorian period"
It is such a broad topic, that quite frankly I'm having some trouble finding something interesting (as well as available texts) to write about.
Thanks,
Kay

mammamaia · 05-07-2005, 09:02 AM

try googling for 'history of the raj'... that should give you plenty of what you need...

Kimberly Bird · 05-07-2005, 02:31 PM

Hi Kay, I am assuming it has to do with the India Trade Route. They had a big company of English ships that traded with them on a regular basis. My mind is still sleepy, so I can't remember the name of it right now.

Best of luck
Kimberly

Spudley · 05-07-2005, 02:53 PM

Yep. Trade, trade, trade.

A lot of people got very rich from the various trade routes established during the Victorian era.

Ivory, tea, spices, silk, china.....

sammisan · 05-07-2005, 06:51 PM

I think it was referred to as the East India Run...or at least one of the trade routes was.

KTK · 05-09-2005, 01:57 PM

Hi Guys,
Thanks for your response. Yeah, a lot of the research that I have done does focus heavily upon trade--I just thought that there might be something else other than that, maybe missionary work or whatever (but I haven't been able to come across any text that focuses on this topic

I guess, I'll just resort to this topic....
See ya,
Kay

mammamaia · 05-10-2005, 09:26 AM

england wasn't into colonialism for missionary reasons, like spain and italy were earlier, since they didn't have a national religion that anyone in power was passionate about spreading...

it was all about money!... cheap labor was also a major factor, along with whatever natural resources were available for the taking there... tea-growing being one of the most needed...

Steve-In-Tokyo · 05-10-2005, 11:07 AM

For a long time, India was neccessary to get the calicos and other fabrics that the Chinese wanted for Tea, since at one point that was only place they could Tea, and the british wools didn't sell so well over there (wonder why eh?)

Then once they domistacated Tea India things took right off.

There are some more subtle reasons as well, the British were getting their arses kicked all over what was called the East Indies (mostly spice trade) by the Dutch and had to retreat to India. During the 1700's the East Indies where all the money was, not in India.

Also there were some confertations with the Indian's during the late 1700's that spurred the British into military action that meant that they would not simply be in the Trade buisness anymore with India but also in the governing buisness to secure said Trade.

The company by the way was The East India Company.

Its like midnight here, and I would look up some more for you, but I would suggest seriously if you want some historical information check out the local university bookstore or library for a British history aka modern british histroy, a lot colleges break the syllabus down in modern as being the beginning of Victoria around 1832.

Also there are a few books like the Sceptered Isle by Christopher Lee that is a great - the one I have covers from 55 BC to 1901 AD and is a pretty good read as well, not just boring history.

KTK · 05-10-2005, 08:54 PM

Hi Steve-in-Tokyo.

Thanks so much for the reply. But you didn't have to go through the research for me. Thanks for your efforts anyways.

A lot of the books that I have read delineate the fact that the British came to India for trade as it was a competition between the English, Dutch and French governments in securing their powers over foreign lands. Also, the East India Company was formed to control the English traders who were taking advantage of the non-interfernce of their country's powers over their trading business. I a book that i'm reading for one of my classes, it mentions briefly that the English would go to india for missionary work. I thought that this might be an interesting topic to research for my term paper. I was pretty bummed out when I found out that neither the bookstore or my university's library had no book mentioning the missionary wrok in india.
Okay. I guess I will go now and start on my paper.

Peace,
Kay

PS. Thanks for the book rec, I'll take a look into if its available.

Steve-In-Tokyo · 05-10-2005, 09:59 PM

Well I definetly would not underestimate religous clashes in India or any of the colonial terrorties during the time.

For example IIRC one of the uprisings in India was sparked by the fact that the British used pig-fat or similar in their carteridges for the rifles. The Muslim soliders were extremly upset since they had to bite on the cartridge. Being Victorian the Brits really didn't care or were sensative to that aspect of their religion.

Where as I believe in Modern times, some effort would have gone into coming up with an alternative.

Definetly don't undersestimate the Islam-Christan Clash in "Greater India" during the colonial period. An after effect of the chaos that they spawned, is the current unstable situtation between Pakistan and India.

While not exactly a missonary hook, I think it could make a great paper to explore how the the religous clash impacted the British in the 1700's into actually moving from Trade to Colonalism (the fact that Trade was jepordized spurred them to become colonials) then into the "stable" period of Victorian Age which had the impact after the Empire collapsed of leaving two major world powers armed with Nukes fighting over terrortories and creating polictical vector that cannot be ignored in the 21st century which complicates things even further.

Anyone ever notice how many of today's hotspots are direct results of British Colonism - India/Packistan, the Levant, Africa, etc.

Not that I am pounding on the Brits, my mother's british, I lived there for a few years, love it, and am a dedicated anglophile.