Table of Contents
How valuable was India to the British Empire?
India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. As well as spices, jewels and textiles, India had a huge population. Soldiering was an honourable tradition in India and the British capitalised on this. They regimented India’s manpower as the backbone of their military power.
Why was India Britain’s most valuable colony?
India was considered the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ for the British Empire due to India’s resources and location. Britain exploited India’s natural assets. In the picture to the left, the British are metaphorically “milking” the raw materials out of India.
What was the prized colony of the British Empire?
India
One of Great Britain’s most prized empirical possessions was that of India, known as the Crown Jewel of the British Empire.
Why was India known as the jewel of the British Empire?
India had all sorts of goods that the British wanted. These included things like spices, textiles, cotton, and the opium that the British would sell in China to be able to buy tea. Because India had so many people and so much wealth, it was the “jewel in the crown” of the British Empire.
How was India affected by the British Empire?
After oppressing India for 200 years, draining its wealth and filling their own coffers, the U.K. ripped the Indian subcontinent into pieces just before they finally left. The partition of 1947 that came along with India’s independence left nearly one million dead and 13 million displaced.
How did Britain become the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent?
Britain became the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent after the East India Company ‘s conquest of Mughal Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The American War of Independence resulted in Britain losing some of its oldest and most populous colonies in North America by 1783.
What was the British Empire in the West Indies known for?
From the outset, slavery was the basis of the British Empire in the West Indies. Until the abolition of its slave trade in 1807, Britain was responsible for the transportation of 3.5 million African slaves to the Americas, a third of all slaves transported across the Atlantic.
What caused the decline of the British Empire in East Asia?
In the Second World War, Britain’s colonies in East Asia and Southeast Asia were occupied by the Empire of Japan. Despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped accelerate the decline of the empire.
British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. After the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815), Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century.