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This was the first governor-general of all of British occupied India and a social and cultural reformer who is noted for abolishing sati and instituting educational reforms in India.
William Bentinck
This practice was a controversial and was a historical custom in some Hindu communities in India. The practice involved a widow self-immolating on he deceased husband's funeral pyre and was seen as a demonstration of a window's loyalty and devotion to her husband, but was ultimately outlawed by EIC in 1829.
Sati
This was the first of the compensatory conquest of the British in 1843 after the humiliation of the First Anglo-Afghan War and was a campaign led by Sir Charles Napier against its former ally and resulted in the annexation of the region controlling the lower Indus River that provided the EIC greater access to the Punjab and Central Asian markets.
Conquest of Sind
The process of taking control of foreign lands and peoples by an outside force to advance trade, wealth, cultivation, exploitation, and potentially settlement.
Colonization
This form of colonial governance system where the colonizing power establishes centralized control, direct management, replaces indigenous leaders, assimilates native populations, and imposes its own laws by integrating the colonized territory within the larger empire.
Direct Rule
This Bengali Brahmo élite was highly educated in both South Asian and European traditions and was a leader of the Hindu Renaissance and advocated for the abolition of sati and child marriage; additionally, he is an example of the struggles of colonization and belonging in empire.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
This was a powerful religious revival movement in 19th century Britain that significantly impacted parliamentary and company approaches to rule in India including the EIC taking on social reforms and promoting the Christianization of India with the help of EIC policies.
Evangelism
This event spanned two wars from 1845-1849 and was the second of the compensatory conquests waged by the British after the Afghan disaster, but was also assisted by instability within the Khalsa after Maharaja Ranjit Singh's death. This event put some of the most fertile agricultural land in South Asia in the hand of the EIC along with control of the northern Indus River and access to Central Asia.
Conquest of the Punjab
This was a cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement that took place in 19th century Bengal under EIC rule, that aimed to renew, elevate, and reform Hindu traditions and was significantly lead by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and other Hindu intelligentsia.
Hindu Renaissance
This is a form of colonial strategy where the imperial power governs through indigenous rulers with traditional titles and structures rather than through replacement. The indigenous leadership typically use imperial support and enforce policies in conjunction with colonial policies. Indigenous leadership is often autocratic in nature.
Indirect Rule
This Punjabi maharaja was called the "Lion of the Punjab" and was seen by the EIC as a potential threat because of his modernized Khalsa army. Reluctantly this leader allowed for some company personnel to used the Punjab to resupply British troops during the First Anglo-Afghan War.
Ranjit Singh
This philosophical and moral theory was very popular in 19th Britain and in the context of colonialism in India was very impactful in favoring the education of indigenous populations of South Asia in English. This moral theory states that the best action creates the greatest well-being for the greatest number of people and focuses on outcomes.
Utilitarianism
This war was fought between the EIC and the powerful Sikh Empire from 1845-1846 in the Punjab due to instability after Ranjit Singh's death and British enflaming rivalries within the Khalsa. The conflict ended with the British taking partial control of the Sikh territories.
The First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1846)
This act of parliament was key to beginning to weaken EIC monopolies (except salt and opium) of trade in South Asia using evangelical fervor in Britain to extend rights of trade to Christian missionaries. This legislation was initially a problem for the EIC because it created greater awareness of company behavior, but would lay the ground work for English education in India.
Charter Act of 1813
This ideology is typically understood as the mindset of empire and can also be described as the policies or practices of extending a nations power and influence over other foreign territories through conquest, economic control, or cultural dominance to gain resources, markets, or strategic benefit, but frequently results in exploitation, conflict, and suppression.
Imperialism
This British member of parliament was highly influential to shaping India's education system particularly after his influential "Minute on Indian Education" where he made reference to English education creating "a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect."
Thomas Babington Macaulay
This concept was nominally about deconstructing tariffs and other protective economic barriers, but became a large driver for imperialism in the 19th century where countries like Britain used economic influence, backed by military power, to open markets to sell manufactured goods and as well as raw materials, beyond reliance on formal colonies.
Free Trade
This war was fought between the EIC and the Sikh Empire from 1848-1849. Aided by British meddling in Sikh affairs, the war eventually led to the Punjab's full annexation by the British and removal of the one of the last South Asian states that could challenge British hegemony.
The Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-1849)
Name my kids by order of birth.
Leo & John (#3 TBD)
This is frequently understood as the act or structures of empire that put imperialist ideas and policies into practice, such as schools, governments, postal systems, police, railway systems and and can also take the form of settlement.
Colonialism
This British judge and student of South Asian language, history, and culture impacted Indian education by promoting the study of Sanskrit and Indian legal studies to influence Western understanding and perception. His work would also be used to produce what imperialists would call "useful knowledge" assisting British colonial rule.
William "Oriental" Jones
In the context of colonial India this term that describes learning and creating knowledge about Indian languages like Sanskrit, culture, and history as seen in the person of William Jones or Raja Ram Mahon Roy, but in the long-term had a tendency of being used to reinforce imperial power by creating a false dichotomy between east and west and mythicizing South Asia.
Orientalism
This term refers to a special group of initiated Sikhs that was the military force for the Sikh Empire that was rooted in the Khalsa and modernized with European weapons and training by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The Sikh Khalsa Army
This utilitarian inspired act of parliament notionally banned discrimination and made preference for Indian needs through meritocracy, but significantly it largely ended the ElC's commercial role and reduced it to mostly administrative functions concentrating power in the hands of the governor-general as well as severely impacting the local Indian economy by removing protections and leading to the collapse of cottage industries like Bengali swadeshi in competition with cheaper manufactured goods.
Charter Act of 1833
This is a process through which settlers implement colonial rule over a land and its native population frequently distorting the land, removing native populations through war or ethnic cleansing, or assimilation replacing native populations with its own. This process is typically based on theft, exploitation, with the support of an imperial power. Examples include the United States, Canada, South Africa, & Australia.
Settler Colonialism