India under Colonial Rule: 1700-1885

Each book in the Seminar Studies in History series provides a concise and reliable introduction to complex events and debates. Written by acknowledged experts and supported by extracts from historical documents, a chronology, glossary, whos who of key figures and guide to further reading, Seminar Studies in History are the essential guides to understanding a topic.

Between 1700 and 1885 the British became the paramount power on the Indian subcontinent, their authority extending from Sri Lanka in the south to the Himalayas in the north. It was a massive empire, inspiring both pride and anxiety amongst the British, and forcing change upon the lives of its Indian subjects.

Yet this is not simply a history of conquest and subjugation. Interaction and interdependency powerfully shaped the histories of all involved, resulting in a hybrid empire, though one which increasingly the British sought to define and control. By 1885 India may have become the jewel in the British crown, but already a series of changes had occurred within Indian society that would set the foundations for the modern states of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Providing a concise introduction to these dramatic changes, this volume:  

• Introduces the major historical developments and debates
• Considers both the British and the Indian perspectives on colonialism
• Analyses the social, economic and cultural dimensions to colonial rule, in particular how race and gender helped structure British and Indian relationships
• Explores how colonial rule impinged on the average Indian

Douglas M. Peers teaches Indian and Imperial History at the University of Calgary. Previous publications include Between Mars and Mammon: Colonial Armies and the Garrison State in Nineteenth-Century India (1995), and two co-edited books, Negotiating India in the Nineteenth Century Media (2000) andJ.S. Mills Encounter with India (1999).