How did Great Britain have so much power and influence considering how small it is? How did they manage to colonise the entirety of India so easily?
In: 167
The British empire didn’t conquer India, firstly because India didn’t exist at the time but also because the area that became India was actually taken over by the East India Trading Company. They didn’t do it with brute force though, they did it through economics and politics.
They started small, just getting permission to open a factory in Surat (where they first arrived) from the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Then they got permission to build factories across the whole Mughal empire, establishing trading links across India and back to Europe.They started to establish British communities in the other trading towns, open factories in other kingdoms, etc.
Then they started getting into politics, making sure to keep the right people wealthy and powerful, and ensuring that anyone who opposed their influence was dealt with. They did this all in the background, allowing the Indian lords, etc, to maintain their image. They did take some places by force but when there was actual battles their superior weaponry gave them the edge. The crown eventually took control of what is now India after the East India company was dissolved in 1858.
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