After Aurangzeb's death (1707), the Mughal Empire rapidly weakened due to weak successors, invasions (Nadir Shah's sack of Delhi, 1739, taking the Peacock Throne and Koh-i-Noor), and the rise of autonomous regional powers — the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Nawabs of Bengal and Awadh, the Marathas, and later the Sikh Confederacy in Punjab under Ranjit Singh.
The English East India Company (est. 1600), alongside Portuguese, Dutch, and French counterparts, initially traded from coastal factories. The Anglo-French rivalry in the Carnatic Wars (1746–1763) established British military and political ascendancy over the French in India, aided significantly by Robert Clive.
| Governor-General/Viceroy | Period | Key Events/Policies |
|---|---|---|
| Warren Hastings | 1773–1785 | First Governor-General; Regulating Act (1773); impeachment on return to Britain |
| Lord Cornwallis | 1786–1793 | Permanent Settlement of Bengal (1793) — fixed land revenue with zamindars as owners |
| Lord Wellesley | 1798–1805 | Subsidiary Alliance system, extending British paramountcy over princely states |
| Lord William Bentinck | 1828–1835 | Abolition of Sati (1829, with Raja Ram Mohan Roy's support); suppression of Thuggee |
| Lord Dalhousie | 1848–1856 | Doctrine of Lapse (annexation of princely states without natural heirs); railway and telegraph expansion |
The Revolt of 1857 (variously termed the "Sepoy Mutiny," "First War of Independence," or "Great Rebellion") began with sepoy grievances (notably the greased cartridges controversy) but drew on broader discontent — the Doctrine of Lapse, land revenue policies, and social/religious anxieties. Key centres included Meerut, Delhi (Bahadur Shah Zafar as symbolic figurehead), Kanpur (Nana Sahib, Tantia Tope), Lucknow (Begum Hazrat Mahal), and Jhansi (Rani Lakshmibai). Its suppression led directly to the Government of India Act, 1858, transferring control from the East India Company to the British Crown.
| Movement/Figure | Founded/Active | Key Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Raja Ram Mohan Roy / Brahmo Samaj | 1828 | Opposed sati, child marriage; advocated monotheism, English education |
| Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar | Mid-19th c. | Widow remarriage advocacy; education reform |
| Dayananda Saraswati / Arya Samaj | 1875 | "Back to the Vedas"; opposed idol worship and caste discrimination; Shuddhi (reconversion) |
| Jyotiba Phule / Satyashodhak Samaj | 1873 | Anti-caste, anti-Brahmanical reform; lower-caste and women's education |
| Ramakrishna Mission (Swami Vivekananda) | 1897 | Vedanta philosophy; social service; 1893 Parliament of Religions address (Chicago) |
| Sir Syed Ahmed Khan / Aligarh Movement | 1875 (MAO College) | Modern education for Muslims; rationalist theology |
British economic policy transformed India's economy: deindustrialisation of traditional crafts (notably textiles) through one-sided free trade; commercialisation of agriculture and cash-crop cultivation; recurrent famines (Bengal 1770, Deccan 1876–78, Bengal 1943); and railway/telegraph expansion serving primarily British strategic and extractive interests. Dadabhai Naoroji's "drain of wealth" theory (Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1901) and R.C. Dutt's economic histories provided influential nationalist economic critiques.
The Indian National Congress (founded 1885) evolved through Moderate (1885–1905), Extremist (1905–1918), and Gandhian (1918–1947) phases. Key milestones include the Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi movement (1905), the Home Rule Movement (1916), Non-Cooperation and Khilafat (1920–22), Civil Disobedience and the Salt Satyagraha (1930), the Round Table Conferences, the Government of India Act (1935), Quit India (1942), and the final transfer of power leading to Partition and Independence (15 August 1947).
The Cabinet Mission Plan (1946), Direct Action Day (August 1946), and the Mountbatten Plan (June 1947) culminated in the Indian Independence Act (1947), creating the independent dominions of India and Pakistan on 15 and 14 August 1947 respectively, accompanied by large-scale communal violence and mass displacement (Partition).
