Pre-topic Prep: TImeframe of the Period, Importance of Dates, What is Colonialism

Modern Period of India - Middle of 18th century to present. 250 years. revolutionary changes in USA, FRANCE, RUSSIA, CHINA, ITALY, GERMANY.

How is this period significant? - Indian people awoke to their right of freedom and become independent in 1947.

Importance of Dates - They allow students to arrange past events and processes in terms of sequence and duration.

First General-Governer - Warren Hastings

Last VIceroy - Lord Mountbatten

Who divided Indian History into Hindu, Muslim, and British Periods? - When Scottish economist and political philosopher James Mill publish “A History of British India”.

What did James Mill think? - Before British rule, hindu and muslim despots ruled the country and religious intolerance, social evils, and superstitions. British rule introduced modern Imac. (insti., manners, arts, culture.

Modern Indian History Division - Ancient, Medieval, Modern

Modern Period - Growth of modernity, SRDLE (science, reasons, democracy, liberty, equality.

Medieval Period - A society where modern features didn’t exist.

British period AKA - Colonial period bcz no LEF (liberty, equality, freedom.)

Colonialism - Extension of a nation’s sovereignty over territory beyond its borders by the establishing settler colonies where indigenous populations are directly ruled or displaced. System of direct political, economic, and cultural intervention and hegemony by a powerful country over a weaker one.

Process of colonisation - Colonising nations dominate the resources, labour, and markets of the colonial territory. Also impose SCRL structures on indigenous population. (socio-political, religious, linguistic.

Main Content: Sources of Information

Administrative Records - Important source of information. Provided basis of what happened in particular period. Invention of printing press → production of books, magazines, newspapers, journals.

Literary Sources - Individual writings as well as government records of British administration. British felt need of preserving important documents and letters. Thus record rooms, museums, archives preserve important records.

Newspapers - important literary source as carry spirit of the time. carry news, cartoons, letters, editorials, ads.

National Archives of India - built in 1920s. proceedings of meetings of government officials, diaries of officials, letters, eyewitness accounts, court proceedings.

The National Museum in New Delhi - Preserved CPWJA of the period. (coins, paintings, weapons, jewellery and other artefacts.) Located close to the Viceregal Palace, reflects importance of these insti.

The Salarjung Museum in Hyderabad - 43k art objects, 50k books. Indian art, European art, childrens art, rare manuscript section.

Surveying and mapping - Maps, photographs, paintings, and statues constitute an imp part of sources.

Surveying - common practice under colonial admin. country had to be known before adminstrated.

Survey of India - Made detailed maps of towns, villages, mountains, and coasts. First Surveyor General in 1815. establishment of Geological Survey in india 1851.

First comprehensive census of India - The 1871 India Census.

First modern census - in 1881

Census - Held every ten years. Preparing detailed records of people in provinces in india.

Types of Surveys - Revenue Surveys, botanical, zoological, archaelogical, forest, etc.

Official Records - What officials thought, interested in, wished to preserve for prosperity. They do not tell us what people in the country felt or lay behind their actions.

Other sources - diaries of people, accounts of travellers, biographies, autobiographies, magazines and journals.

First woman to write an autobiography - Rassundari Devi, in bengali

Neel Darpan by - Deenabandhu Mitra, based on exploitation of workers in indigo plantations

Vincent Smith - wrote books of history of india. first time books on economic history of india were written in this period.

newspaper languages - in english, tamil, gujarati, bengali, urdu, persian.

famous newspapers - Kesari by Bal Gangadhar Tilkak & Mirat-ul-Akhbar by Raja Rammohan Roy