39 Facts About British Raj

1.

British Raj was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; it is called Crown rule in India, or Direct rule in India, and lasted from 1858 to 1947.

FactSnippet No. 613,619
2.

British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, except for small holdings by other European nations such as Goa and Pondicherry.

FactSnippet No. 613,620
3.

These coastal regions were temporarily administered under Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, but for later periods the British governors reported to London, and it was not part of the Raj.

FactSnippet No. 613,621
4.

The kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British Raj, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British Raj as independent states.

FactSnippet No. 613,622
5.

New regiments, like the Sikhs and Baluchis, composed of Indians who, in British Raj estimation, had demonstrated steadfastness, were formed.

FactSnippet No. 613,623
6.

Third, the British Raj felt disenchanted with Indian reaction to social change.

FactSnippet No. 613,624
7.

On 28 December 1885, professionals and intellectuals from this middle-class—many educated at the new British Raj-founded universities in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, and familiar with the ideas of British Raj political philosophers, especially the utilitarians assembled in Bombay.

FactSnippet No. 613,625
8.

British Raj began large scale famine relief, reduced taxes, and overcame bureaucratic obstacles in an effort to reduce both starvation and widespread social unrest.

FactSnippet No. 613,626
9.

British Raj announced the capital would be moved from Calcutta to Delhi.

FactSnippet No. 613,627
10.

However, the British Raj authorities were able to crush violent rebels swiftly, partly because the mainstream of educated Indian politicians opposed violent revolution.

FactSnippet No. 613,628
11.

Now, as constitutional reform began to be discussed in earnest, the British Raj began to consider how new moderate Indians could be brought into the fold of constitutional politics and, simultaneously, how the hand of established constitutionalists could be strengthened.

FactSnippet No. 613,629
12.

The British Raj authorities reacted by imposing restrictions on the Leagues, including shutting out students from meetings and banning the two leaders from travelling to certain provinces.

FactSnippet No. 613,630
13.

British Raj'storians consider the episode was a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.

FactSnippet No. 613,631
14.

In local terms, British Raj control rested on the Indian Civil Service, but it faced growing difficulties.

FactSnippet No. 613,632
15.

The finances of the British Raj depended on land taxes, and these became problematic in the 1930s.

FactSnippet No. 613,633
16.

The British Raj separated Burma Province from British Raj India in 1937 and granted the colony a new constitution calling for a fully elected assembly, with many powers given to the Burmese, but this proved to be a divisive issue as a ploy to exclude Burmese from any further Indian reforms.

FactSnippet No. 613,634
17.

British Raj proclaimed the Two-Nation Theory, stating at Lahore on 23 March 1940:.

FactSnippet No. 613,635
18.

British Raj government sent the Cripps mission in 1942 to secure Indian nationalists' co-operation in the war effort in exchange for a promise of independence as soon as the war ended.

FactSnippet No. 613,636
19.

On 8 August the British Raj arrested all national, provincial and local Congress leaders, holding tens of thousands of them until 1945.

FactSnippet No. 613,637
20.

British Raj turned to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan for help in gaining India's independence by force.

FactSnippet No. 613,638
21.

Two silver one rupee coins used in India during the British Raj, showing Victoria, Queen, 1862 and Victoria, Empress, 1886 (right).

FactSnippet No. 613,639
22.

India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory: British India and the Native States.

FactSnippet No. 613,640
23.

In general, the term "British Raj India" had been used to refer to the regions under the rule of the British Raj East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858.

FactSnippet No. 613,641
24.

At the turn of the 20th century, British Raj India consisted of eightprovinces that were administered either by a governor or a lieutenant-governor.

FactSnippet No. 613,642
25.

The British Raj exercised a general influence over the states' internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers.

FactSnippet No. 613,643
26.

British Raj headed the Viceroy's Executive Council, each member of which had responsibility for a department of the central administration.

FactSnippet No. 613,644
27.

From 1937 onwards, British Raj India was divided into 17 administrations: the three Presidencies of Madras, Bombay and Bengal, and the 14 provinces of the United Provinces, Punjab, Bihar, the Central Provinces and Berar, Assam, the North-West Frontier Province, Orissa, Sind, British Raj Baluchistan, Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Panth Piploda.

FactSnippet No. 613,645
28.

Select groups which the British Raj reformers wanted to monitor statistically included those reputed to practice female infanticide, prostitutes, lepers, and eunuchs.

FactSnippet No. 613,646
29.

British Raj'storians have been bitterly divided on issues of economic history, with the Nationalist school arguing that India was poorer at the end of British rule than at the beginning and that impoverishment occurred because of the British.

FactSnippet No. 613,647
30.

The British Raj did not provide capital, but, aware of Britain's declining position against the US and Germany in the steel industry, it wanted steel mills in India.

FactSnippet No. 613,648
31.

British Raj India built a modern railway system in the late 19th century, which was the fourth largest in the world.

FactSnippet No. 613,649
32.

India provides an example of the British Raj Empire pouring its money and expertise into a very well-built system designed for military purposes, in the hope that it would stimulate industry.

FactSnippet No. 613,650
33.

British Raj invested heavily in infrastructure, including canals and irrigation systems in addition to railways, telegraphy, roads and ports.

FactSnippet No. 613,651
34.

British Raj'storians continue to debate whether the long-term intention of British rule was to accelerate the economic development of India, or to distort and delay it.

FactSnippet No. 613,652
35.

Indian historian Rajat Kanta Ray continues this line of attack, saying the new economy brought by the British in the 18th century was a form of "plunder" and a catastrophe for the traditional economy of the Mughal Empire.

FactSnippet No. 613,653
36.

British Raj argues the British takeover did not make any sharp break with the past, which largely delegated control to regional Mughal rulers and sustained a generally prosperous economy for the rest of the 18th century.

FactSnippet No. 613,654
37.

Marshall notes the British Raj went into partnership with Indian bankers and raised revenue through local tax administrators and kept the old Mughal rates of taxation.

FactSnippet No. 613,655
38.

Population of the territory that became the British Raj was 100million by 1600 and remained nearly stationary until the 19th century.

FactSnippet No. 613,656
39.

The population of the British Raj reached 255million according to the first census taken in 1881 of India.

FactSnippet No. 613,657