A STUDY ON SOCIAL CHANGES IN BRITISH TIME

Pardeep Kumar

A STUDY ON SOCIAL CHANGES IN BRITISH TIME

Around the 18th Century a number of significant events took place in the world. One such event was the Industrial Revolution which took place in England. It gradually spread to other countries of Europe also. You must have read about the Industrial Revolution that took place in England, and also read about the discovery of new sea and trade routes. One such sea route to India was discovered by a Portuguese called Vasco de Gama in 1498. As a result, the English, French, Portuguese and the Dutch came to India for trade. They also used it to spread missionary activities in india.1 The European and the British traders initially came to India for trading purposes. The Industrial Revolution in Britain led to the increase in demand for raw materials for the factories there. At the same time, they also required a market to sell their finished goods. India provided such a platform to Britain to fulfill all their needs. The 18th century was a period of internal power struggle in India and with the declining power of the Mughal Empire, the British officials were provided with the perfect opportunity to establish their hold over Indian Territory. They did these through numerous wars, forced treaties, annexations of and alliances with the various regional powers all over the country. Their new administrative and economic policies helped them consolidate their control over the country. Their land revenue policies help them keep the poor farmers in check and get huge sums as revenues in return. They forced the commercialisation of agriculture with the growing of various cash crops and the raw-materials for the industries in the Britain. With the strong political control, the British were able to monopolise the trade with India

Volume 6 Issue 1, January-2018

Pages : 2088-2092