Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c59.s2.1

v4.c59.s2.1

Under British rule, the change in our economic life has been as great as that of our social life Soon after the establishment of British paramountcy, India was struck by the full blast of the Industrial Revolution in England; then came the introduction of steamer transport to Europe, the opening of railways in India, and finally the cutting of the Suez Canal. All these factors united to destroy the economic system under which the Indian millions had toiled, fed themselves, and provided the needs of their government for centuries during the middle ages. Gone was India's monopoly of indigo, saltpetre and cotton fabrics in the world market. She now sank into a producer of raw materials in the bulk instead of finished articles or of luxuries of small bulk and high value as in Mughal times. Even her coarse and coloured cotton exports to the South and East Asiatic world ceased, though these had formed more than a quarter of the East India Company's annual investment in the Mughal times.