To what extent did Britain rule India well?

Your task is to:1. Describe the way Britain ruled India2. To explain how India reacted to British rule3. To reach a judgement about the effectiveness

of British rule

Task

• Use the sources to think about:• British views• Indian views• Reliability of the sources – who produced

them, when were they produced, why were they produced, are they biased towards the British or the Indian view point?

Source Summary of source

Who produced it?

When was it produced?

Why was it produced?

Is it reliable?

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

British, Indian or specific person?

Is it from before,

during or after India’s time in the

empire?

Is it intended as

propaganda, to entertain, to inform, to motivate?

Do you trust it to tell you

the absolute

truth?

Michael Pallin

• “If we say that all of our past involvement with the world was bad and wicked and wrong, I think we're doing ourselves a great disservice. It has set up lines of communication between people that are still very strong. We still have links with other countries – culturally, politically and socially – that, perhaps, we shouldn't forget.”

Source A

Year Exports of Indian calico and muslin to Britain

Exports of Indian dyed cotton to Britain

Exports of plain British cotton to India

Exports of dyed British cotton to India

Total cloths sent to Britain from India

Total cloths sent to India from Britain

1814 967,652 298,596 213,408 604,800 1,266,608 818,200

1821 275,352 259,143 9,423,352 9,715,374 534,495 19,138,726

1828 203,848 218,656 30,411,857 12,410,220 422,504 42,822,077

1835 39,459,172 12,318,105 306,086 51,777,277

Source B

Extracts from the Independence Day Resolution passed by the Indian National Congress in 1930

Source C

Source D

Source E

Sati – Hindu ritual sacrifice Source F

Source G

Source H

Source I

Source J

• In some ways Britain did rule India well. For example source …. suggests that …… Source … is from the viewpoint of the …. This means that …..

• Other things that Britain did well include …..

• In other ways Britain didn’t rule India well. For example, in source ….. it suggests that …… This source takes the view point of ….. This means that ……

• Other sources also say Britain ruled India badly, for example ….. They might reach a negative conclusion because…..

• Clearly, opinion plays a part in deciding whether people think the British ruled well or not. For example….

• However, after looking at the sources I think that …..

To what extent did Britain rule India well?