British East India Research Paper

The British East India Company, in the first 50 years of its existence, had no interest in the development of colonies, preferring to engage in trade only, following the pattern set by the Portuguese. This pattern was changed by 1650 when the power of the old guard British royalist merchants was broken, and a new class of merchants wrested control of the Company. They followed the pattern set by the colonial mer- chants in American colonies and the West Indies, and sought to establish a network of colonies linking England, Africa and India in a complicated network of exchange relationships. The Mughal Empire declined in the first half of the eighteenth century. The political vacuum was filled by the rise of regional states like Bengal, Hyderabad, …show more content…
There were other regional kingdoms which were conquered by the British. Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan the legendary rulers of Mysore (in Carnatic, modern day Indian state of Karnataka ), gave a tough time to the British forces in the second half of the eighteenth century. Haidar Ali was in command of the army in Mysore from 1749; he became the ruler of the state in 1761. Until his defeat by Sir Eyre Coote in 1781 Haidar Ali continued his struggle against the Company. Mysore finally fell to the Company forces in 1799, with the slaying of Tipu Sultan in 1799. With the gradual weakening of the Maratha Empire in the aftermath of the three Anglo-Maratha wars fought during 1772-1818, the British also secured the Maratha territories. It was during these campaigns, both against Mysore and the Marathas, that under the command of Arthur Wellesley, the British had secured the entire region of Southern India (with the exception of small enclaves of French and local rulers), Western India and Eastern …show more content…
The annexed regions included the North-Western Provinces (comprising Rohilkhand, Gorakhpur, and the Doab) (1801), Delhi (1803), and Sindh (1843). Punjab, Northwest Frontier Province, and Kashmir, were annexed after the Anglo-Sikh Wars in 1849. Kashmir was sold under the Treaty of Amritsar (1850) to the Dogra Dynasty of Jammu, and thereby became a princely state. In 1854 Berar was annexed, and the state of Oudh two years later. The Main purpose of the subsidiary alliance system was to expand the
British Empire in India by bringing new territories under its control and to decrease the French influence so that The British could become the paramount power in