Britain and India

Hello all!
 Xaralambos Here, to talk about the effects of Globalization through trade. Sorry about the delay -- Things have been pretty hectic lately. While i talked about globalization's effect in ancient times, I'm going to focus on a comparatively more recent era -- around and after the Industrial Revolution. This is a particularly interesting era to observe the effects of Globalization, as  we see globalization start to more and more resemble modern day trade, as the advent of increasingly efficient machines increased the fabrication of goods. An increase in overall population also helped to keep demand for these goods high. The British are a good group to look at during this time period, as they had established colonies throughout the world by this point, and as such, their culture was exposed to the cultures  of many groups of people, among which were the Chinese, the Indian, and eventually, most of South Africa.
Let's Examine the effects of the British control in India. As is known, the East India Company was founded in 1600, after the fall of the Spanish armada, when english merchants finally felt able to sail and trade further. The Company remained present in India as just another trading post, something that many other countries -- Portugal, France, etc.-- had already established. In 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, it was effectively established as having control over the regions in india, and was appointed the official revenue collector. It continued to annex portions of India, eventually gaining control of what is known as British India.The establishment of such control over parts of India changed affected many parts of traditional Indian culture, and vice versa. One of the first undertakings was the expansion of the available army. Since most of the available Soldiers were from Bengal, and ha had fought against the british in The Battle of Plassey, the East India Company was forced to search further west for available soldiers. These Soldiers, Known as Sepoys (Indian Soldiers working for a European force), eventually came to make up about 80% of the Bengal army. however, as the Soldiers, like most of the Indian population, made use of the caste system, the East India Company had to adjust many of their practices, as to not inadvertently deliver an insult. As such, soldiers Dined in different areas depending on their caste, and overseas service, which was normally required, was made optional, as the Sepoys felt such service would be insulting. In time, the British Officially Recognized many Hindu festivals and celebrations. Though it was not spread beyond India, there were marked changes in the army during this time. the influence of the British was also apparent in the way the subject of education was addressed. Officially, there were three goals in approaching the issue: To provide Native Indians with knowledge of their own culture, to increase general knowledge in India, and to Use the acquired knowledge in Government. In the support of this policy, Many Administrators founded the Madrasa `Aliya, an Institution that specialized in the study of Arabic and Persian languages, as well as Islamic law. As a result, after a few years, the population gained the notion that rulers of a country had a duty to preserve that countries culture, as well as their own. Other administrators Decided that if overall Knowledge in India was furthured, then there would be less dissension among the population. The Asiatick Society was founded to support and promote the study of Asian culture, and in 1791, the Benares Sanskrit College was founded. Yet other Administrators decided that, if they were familiar with the customs and Language of the people, they would be better administrators. Many other administrators, later termed Anglicists, held the belief that instruction should impart common western knowledge upon the people. English eventually became the language of instruction, and Persian was eventually removed as the official language. These various establishments all were influential, and some later played a large role in the development of the Modern Indian language, as well as the eventual Bengal Renaissance. Finally, the East India Company rule led to the development of many railways in India. However, as the technology was still new, the experts in the design of the railways needed to be brought in from England. These experts rarely knew the language. moreover, they were unfamiliar with the land, and needed to take much care with their designs, and there were no workers adequately skilled already organized. As such, the construction was painfully slow, and moved sporadically. However, the Finished railways were built such that they were way above that era's standards. Though they didn't entirely complete all the systems they set out to, they laid the foundations properly. In fact, long after the East India Company lost it's rule, the various railroads eventually composed the fourth largest railway system in the world.