M O D E R N H I S T O RY

SOUTH ASIA NOTES #3

BRITISH COLONIZE INDIA

• British able to win control of India by setting up trading posts.• Textiles (cloth) were the most important good

carried to England by the East Indian trading Company. • The influence of the trade still seen today in the

Indian words that have entered the English language. (Khaki, dungarees, shawl)

EFFECTS OF BRITISH IMPERIALISM

• British improved health care• Improved sanitary conditions which led to

population growth. • British educated higher-caste Indians. • Studies centered around English language and

culture, which reflected British ethnocentrism.• British felt their culture was superior to India’s

INDIAN NATIONALISTS

• Indian Nationalism strongest among the British-educated elite• These people were determined to change India

from British control. • Indian National Congress (INC) formed in 1885.

Most members were Hindu and in 1920 Mohandas Gandhi took over the leadership of the Congress movement. • Gandhi determined to gain India’s independence.

MOHANDAS GANDHI

• Mohandas K. Gandhi is also a worldwide icon of non-violent political resistance. Gandhi is often called Mahatma -- Hindu for "great soul“.• Gandhi was born in India, studied law in England,

then spent 20 years defending the rights of immigrants in South Africa. He returned to India in 1914, eventually becoming the leader of the Indian National Congress.

GANDHI

• At the time, India was part of the British Empire, and Gandhi urged “Satyagraha” non-violence and civil disobedience as a means to India’s independence. • His public acts of defiance including his “Salt

March” in 1930, landed him in jail many times as the struggle for India’s Independence from British rule continued through World War II. • In 1947, participated in negotiations with Britain

that led to Indian independence.

GANDHI PRINCIPLES OF NONVIOLENCE AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

1. Maintain respect for the rule of law even while disobeying the specific law that you perceive as unjust. 2. Accept the consequence. You should pled guilty to any violation of the law.3. You should attempt to convert your opponent by demonstrating the justice of your cause. Active nonviolence does not seek, as Gandhi says, “to defeat or humiliate your opponents, but to win their friendship and understanding.”

GANDHI

• Gandhi wed in 1883, in an arranged marriage; he was 13 at the time. They had five children and remained married for nearly 61 years, until her death in 1944... Among his many famous quotes is the saying, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind"...

• He was shot to death by a Hindu fanatic in 1948. (78) An advocate of simple living, Gandhi ate a vegetarian diet and made his own clothes; the spinning wheel became a symbol of his uncluttered lifestyle. His autobiography, The Story of My Experiments With Truth, was published in 1927. His birthday, October 2nd, is a national holiday in India.

INDIA INDEPENDENCE

• 1947: Indian Independent Act passed by British parliament ended British rule in India• Divided the area into two nations India (Hindu

majority) and Pakistan (Muslim majority)• Partition led to violence 500,000 killed• Muslims fled India to Pakistan & Hindus fled

Pakistan to India• 15 million took part in the mass migration

PAKISTAN

• British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan after WWII. • The Indian Independence Act ended British rule in

India. • It partitioned, or divided the area into two

separate and independent nations. One nation was Hindu-dominated India. The other nation was Pakistan, with a Muslim majority.

Pakistan divided into West and East

PAKISTAN

• In 1947, Pakistan was made up into two regions, West Pakistan and East Pakistan the two areas were separated by 1,000 miles (India) • West and East little in common except both have

large Muslim populations.• Civil War in 1971, East Pakistan won and it

became Bangladesh.

KASHMIR

• What: Kashmir a region of India, source of conflict and tensions between India & Pakistan

• Where: located in the mountains that border India, Pakistan, and China.

• When: Since 1947 to present

• Why: Dispute over division of Kashmir since it was divided has led to three wars between India and Pakistan in 1947, 1965 and 1999.

• It is potentially one of the most dangerous disputes in the world and in the worst-case scenario could trigger a nuclear conflict.

• In 1998 India and Pakistan both declared themselves to be nuclear powers with a string of nuclear tests.

Indus flows to the NW from China Tibet(R to L)

What should be done with Kashmir?

IMPERIALISM AND KASHMIR CONFLICT

• KASHMIR’S HISTORY HAS been dominated by foreign powers: first by different feudal regimes, then by British imperialism and, recently, by Indian and Pakistani capitalism and landlordism.• Kashmir: was once one of the largest of the

565 ‘princely states’ that were part of the British empire.• Dispute over the division of Kashmir following

independence from British imperialism in 1947 has led to three wars between Indian and Pakistan in 1947, 1965 and 1999.• Today a million troops face each other across the

Indo-Pakistan border.