Similarities Between The British East India Trading Company

The British empire held lands in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. (Doc. 1) These colonies the British held, benefit their trade in many ways. They are able to obtain diverse materials for goods, and have a large market to sell their finished goods. These colonies could also provide safe ports for the ships transporting goods. Great Britain has many advantages to trade, especially

India is a great example about how they were too weak. India is probably in the best position for trade, due to its central location between Africa and Asia. India was a great area for trade.Before the West’s power overtook India, it was small not unified. In document 5 a person can be seen weaving on their own. This is before they were introduced to industrial textile production. The British wanted to take control of India and combine with them to become bigger and stronger. Britain saw India as a market and is a source of raw materials they built roads and impressive railroads to transport factory made goods across the subcontinent. These roads and railroads are used to carry materials such as coal and cotton to coastal ports to transfer the factories in England. This description of India can relate to Document 6, in this document a railroad is seen being built under British control. Railroads are an example of modernization taking over this country.

British imperialism had a negative impact on the economy of india because the British made trade links and because of train tracks that were made for their own benefit. “Both nations benefited from the trade links that were firmly established in the 17th century” (Lalvani). Hand woven fabric exports from bergal to britain fell by half in a 20 year time period (Document 3). This shows that indians did not benefit because the british just sold their fabrics and made people lose jobs because of it. The British built 10,000 miles of railroad track and 136,000 bridges (Lalvani). The railroads, however, were used to extract the crops of india and forced indians to be adulterated (Shaw) goods from england. They might have built the railroads but they

Commerce and trade had been established because farmers had learned how to irrigate their land. They could grow

There was a huge demand for luxury Asian goods in India, that would lead Europeans to trade along the Indian Ocean for Indian spices and goods. Because of this, an economy was revolved around trading, known as a mercantilist economy, where European nations would have rivalries in order to obtain silver in the Americas. This would then lead to European countries trying to thrive in the Indian Ocean with joint stock companies and trading posts in order to control the area and help out their economy.

Within 25 years 10,000 miles of tracks were laid in India (Dr. Lalvani) However the railroads were used to extract raw materials from India and flood Indian markets with British textiles (Doc 3) The British built the railroads in India but only for their benefit and since they flooded Indian markets with their textiles this caused Indians to lose money. Dr. Lalvani believes that both nations benefited from trading (Dr. Lalvani) although the trade only increased for the British and not for India. For example, in 1799 India exported 2,200 pieces of hand woven cotton textiles to England and in 1859 they exported nothing (Doc 4) India did not benefit from the trade, they mostly

The British organized the expansion of railways, and by the time India became independent, 10,000 miles of new railroad tracks had been laid (Lalvani). These railroads seemed like a good thing, to allow easier transportation and communication, but they were mainly used to transport cotton and other cash crops out, and British-made fabric back in, which the Indians were forced to buy (Document 3). The Indians were no longer allowed to weave their own fabric and if they were caught doing it their fingers would be cut off (Document 3). This put many Indians out of jobs because weaving was the main job for many people and they were replaced by the machines back in England. The British claimed to have opened national parks and protected endangered species (Lalvani) but the environment still suffered drastically during the time of British imperialism (Document 6). The forced growing of cash crops like cotton and indigo ruined the soil and made it harder to grow crops because of the higher salt content, a process called salinization (Document 6). The British also cut down many forests which made the climate hotter and the air more polluted (Document 6). This process made life a lot harder for the Indians because while they struggled to grow and sell the cash crops, they were making it harder for themselves to grow more crops in the future. The British expanded the railways in India, but they also ruined the land, and economy, resulting in an overall negative effect on the environment and the lives of many

crops to grow and sell to the public, which meant more food supply was available to everyone.

The original motive of the East India company was almost certainly a desire for personal monetary profit, but there were certainly other reasons for the further expansion into India. As the Industrial revolution began in Britain the

In the north, commercialism provided great wealth to those able to market products for sale in the booming trade industry. Trade with both Europe and the West Indies was profitable for those able to supply goods such as fish and furs to the traders. In the south, cash crops such as tobacco and indigo sold easily in Europe and provided hefty profits for large plantation owners. Farmers with smaller stakes of land were usually not able to produce much crop beyond what was needed to sustain themselves and therefore were unable to profit as well from trade. "Not surprisingly in an agrarian society, about one third of all the disturbances identified concerned land."

The British policies required India to produce raw materials for means of British production and to buy British merchandise. The British forbid competition between India and Britain. After the railroad network was set up, India became even more valuable to Britain. The railroads transported raw materials from the inner lands to the trading ports, in a rotating sequence.

The British rule over India was for the tea trade. The idea was that British consumers would want tea, creating jobs in India.

Britain took over India after a brief struggle with France; initially to aid in its economy; mainly its textiles. The plan was to have Indians harvest raw materials to ship back to Britain. Britain would therefore have cheap raw materials sent back to them; because India was mercantilist (could only trade with the mother country) they did not have much of a choice but to sell to Britain cheaply. Britain therefore always had a steady source of raw materials Britain would turn raw materials into finished products that it would ship back to India and sell to Indians. Prices for goods were low and Indians liked that, but also Britain had a steady source of income. The most useful Indian industry for Britain was its cotton industry; Britain often used Indian cotton for clothing. India made for a cheap way to assemble (cheap labor) and an easy way to get business.

large plantations of crops such as rice and indigo became the main source of economic stability and produced surpluses for export which resulted in the development of

Forty years later, in 1637, Captain Wendell reached China successfully and tried to open trade negotiations with Chinese locals but he was resisted and sent on his way. His ship was destroyed on his journey back home. Ten years after the Dutch East India Company was expelled from China, English East India Company finally set up a post in Taiwan, in 1672. By the 1700’s this base was shifted to Canton and EIC granted the monopoly of trade until 1833. Despite the many restrictions on trading by the government, the Chinese trade flourished, and in the 18th century, the East India Company traded woollens from Britain and cottons from India in exchange for Chinese tea, silk and porcelain. Out of these, tea became the largest item to be traded by the British (Robins 18-33).