| BRITISH RULE (1858-1947) | |
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After the Rebellion of 1857, the British government assumed direct rule over India, replacing the Company; in 1877, Victoria became "Queen-Empress" as well |
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"Viceroys" now ruled India, wielding power on behalf of the sovereign |
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The sea traffic between England and India steadily increased, and now there was a (partially) *"overland route"* too |
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British colonial life became even more complex over time-- and always full of travel |
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All this was made possible, just as in the Company days, by huge staffs of servants |
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Simla, a refuge from the heat of the plains, became the summer capital of the Raj, and other "hill stations" developed as well |
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Banking and other commercial activities grew steadily more Anglicized |
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Old technologies were improved, and new ones introduced, with much fanfare |
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No new technology had a larger impact than the railway (1850's onward) |
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The postal service was highly organized, well-staffed, and often remarkably efficient |
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Police forces, a novelty in England as well, began to be organized; magistrates held court in all sorts of settings |
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Indian art, design, culture, and botanical wonders were studied; museums were created |
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Famines were all too common in India during the later 1800's; famine-relief efforts, though sometimes heroic, often turned out to be greatly inadequate |
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Pomp and circumstance were maintained during imperially-sponsored tours, especially the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1875-76 |
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And why not a spot of big-game
hunting? |
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By the 1880s, Indian soldiers were serving the Empire not only in India, but abroad as well; they had elaborate uniforms, and regimental traditions to go with them |
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Military and political expansion
into the "near abroad" began with repeated expeditions to the tribal
northeast, and into Burma |
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In 1911, King George and Queen Mary visited India, and in Delhi they offered a classic Mughal-style "jharoka darshan" ("balcony viewing") along with fine darbar scenes |
|
OF INDIA* |
Bombay's great landmark, the "Gateway of India," was conceived to commemorate this visit |
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During World War I Indian troops were in European trenches, fighting together with British troops; World War II was to be a more complex case |
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The monument at the site of General Dyer's bloody Jalianwala Bagh massacre of unarmed protesters, Amritsar 1919 |
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Also in 1919 the India Gate in New Delhi was first conceived, as a monument to the Indian soldiers who had died in World War I and the Afghan Wars |
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The India Gate was part of a new imperial administrative area that came to be known, for its architect, as *"Lutyens' Delhi"* |
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The
endgame approaches: Indian troops in World War II |