Crown rule, famines and early nationalism
Under direct British rule, famines killed millions, Indian thinkers exposed the drain of wealth, and the Indian National Congress was founded.
How it was ruled
A Viceroy ruled British India; about 560 princely states remained under Indian rulers who accepted British supremacy.
How people lived
Reform movements grew: Arya Samaj (1875), Satyashodhak Samaj (1873), Aligarh's college (1875), Ramakrishna Mission (1897); Swami Vivekananda spoke at Chicago in 1893.
What people did
Farming of cash crops for export, railway and plantation work (tea in Assam), and early mills in Bombay and Ahmedabad.
What people ate
Grain was exported even in famine years; the famines of 1876–78 and 1896–1900 killed millions.
Trade
Dadabhai Naoroji showed how Britain drained India's wealth; railways and the Suez Canal (1869) tied India to the world market.
Region by region
- Maharashtra: The Indian National Congress first met in Bombay in 1885.
- West Bengal: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Vande Mataram (1875).
- Assam: Tea gardens, worked by labourers brought from central India.
- Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh: The Madras famine of 1876–78.
Key events
- 1875: Arya Samaj founded; Vande Mataram written
- 1885: Indian National Congress founded
- 1893: Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago
Legacy
Vande Mataram, the national song, and the beginning of an organised national movement.