Key learning points

1. By 1876, Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India, ruling with the help of a viceroy and anglicised Indian elite.
2. The British improved infrastructure in India for economic purposes and implemented healthcare initiatives.
3. Britain was criticised for exploiting India’s resources and either failing to prevent, or contributing to, famine.
4. Historians' interpretations of the impact of British rule on India differ from one to another.

Keywords

• Anglicised - adapted and shaped in such a way as to exhibit English characteristics

• Infrastructure - building projects that help enable travel and communication within a country, for example, roads, railways, etc.

• Irrigation - waterways enabling crop growth in areas where beforehand it was not possible

• Customs - the ways of behaving and societal rules that a group of people follow

• Authoritarianism - ruling in a non-democratic way, often enforcing the law through violence

Common misconception