History- Indian mutiny, battle of Plassey, sati, salt tax

1707

Mughal emperor Aurangzeb dies

The salt and the tax

Salt is important especially in hot climates because it gives the body essential minerals. Though the tax had been used before it had never been so high (8000 rupees). Many people were dying because of lack of salt.

1756

Siraj ud Dowlah (Bengal prince) north west India tries to attack EIC trading base

Memsahibs

The British officers wives and daughters

Viceroy

A British leader to represent the queen in India.

Province

A territory/ area of land/city that was ruled by another country

Rammohan's experience with sati

After the death of his brother Rammohan attended his funeral. His sister in law was supposed to carry out the tradition sati but Rammohan pleaded her not to. Relatives disagreed. In the end his sister in law thought it was her duty to do the custom to show that she loved her husband so she got burnt alive in front of Rammohan. From that day on he set out to end the Hindu custom Sati.

1829

As well as gaining the friend William Carrey to help end sati Rammohan Roy made the brave decision to go to Britain to try persuade the British Governor General to ban sati

23rd June 1757

Battle of Plassey- 3,000 British against 60,000 Siraj ud Dowlah.

British attitude toward Indian religions or customs

Began to change as they gained more provinces in India making them rulers

Robert Clive

Born 1725 Shropshire Started off as an office worker for the EIC Tried to Commit suicide twice and addicted to drugs was paid to not vandalize stores and started fights

Sahibs

British officers/ rulers

Battle of Plassey

•after news about the black hole of Calcutta (146 British people held in a 5 by 4 meter room with 2 Windows by Siraj ud Dowlah-123 people smothered said by John Howell) reached Robert Clive he went to Bengal with 3000 men. •at first Robert Clive thought that he shouldn't fight because he only had 3000men whereas Siraj had 60,000 but he decided to go on •almost as soon as the British attacked Siraj's army fled •one of clive's officers disobeyed him and gave the order to attack at just the right time turning the battle to clive's side. •a lucky shot from the British guns hit the Nawab's greatest general •storm soaked Nawab's weapons •Siraj's troops change sides at the last minute •• Clive earned Britain their first province in India = Bengal

June 1857

Cawnpore massacre. rebel Indians killed 250 British men women and children. There were originally 200 British men and hundreds more women and children. 200 people survived the attack but were then found and recaptured then hacked to death by some local butchers. Some rebel sepoys tried to save the British but failed.

Deaths at the battle of Plassey

Clive lost 18 men and the nawab lost 500

1608

EIC first voyage to India led by sir William Hawkins

Evangelicals

Evangelicals were a group of powerful Christians who took Christianity very seriously. They believed in converting people of other faiths to Christianity.

Before 1800

Indian religions and customs were happily ignored/ accepted by the British because the British thought they were traders not rulers

Sepoys

Indian soldiers in the British army

Salt smuggling

Indians figured that smuggling cheap salt into the British areas of India would make them a huge profit when they sold it as many people needed salt but now didn't have the money for it.

How did banning sati affect British and Indian relationships.

It worsened Britain and Indian relationships as the British weren't only taking over land. Now they were changing the religion itself which angered the Indians as many of them were Hindus who believed In Sati.

1751

Robert Clive and 500 british and indian soldiers held Arcot for 50 days against 10,000 french and indian

What angered the sepoys

The new British gun had a cartridge that were required to be bitten off and the Hindus believed that there was cow grease on them (Muslims believed there was pig grease) so it went against their religion because cows were scared.

What sort of changes were Britain making to India

They built roads ,bridges and even railways wherever they went they also made laws based on Christian standards and to enforce these laws they took change to law and order and ran law courts.

Consequences of Cawnpore

They wanted revenge. They arrested those who were believed to be Rebels and made them lick the floor on which the British had been butchered on. Some were tied to canons and blown to pieces and others were force fed beef because cows are scared Hindu animal whereas Muslims were fed pig which were unclean to them before hanging them. Others were just shot

William Carrey

Was a famous evangelical who had mutual respect for the Indians. He then went on to help Rammohan Roy ban the custom sati.

The British reaction to smuggling

Was building what was called the great hedge of India where most of the smuggling took place. It ran for 2500km and was 4m high and 5m thick. It was made up of sharp thorn bushes that could tear apart an smugglers skin.

1858-1947

Was known as the British Raj (raj is Indian for rule). Queen Victoria was the ruler of British lands in India under the British raj. She had a viceroy who had the support of 5,000 British officials

Britain's problem governing India

Was that the British did not have enough money to govern their land in India (they didn't want to use their trading money). Do they decided to introduce a tax that has been used by many other Indian rulers for hundreds of years... The salt tax.

Sati

Was the tradition of sacrificing a widowed wife after her husbands death. She would be tied to her husbands dead corpse who then is cremated and the wife is burnt alive while the relatives go around the fire singing Maha Sati (a great wife)

November 1st 1858

Was when the proclamation that the British would now directly rule India was announced at every railway station in India. The EIC was gotten rid of or abolished and all the rebels who hadn't murdered Europeans were pardoned and all Indian religions were now respected.