Sam Said 2/23

Today in class, we were given back our graded Comparative essays on the Neolithic and Industrial Revolution. Ms. Separ advised us to use ‘comparative words’ to help with the flow of our writing, along with making it clear what we are comparing. (Both, as well as..)



We discussed time before the British power in India. We looked at a painting of the Mughal leader Shah Jahan sitting on a “peacock throne”; he was son of Akbar the Great. Another leader, Aurangzeb ended religious toleration in India, after began the slow

decline of the Mughals in 1707. It’s important to remember that India is mostly Hindu.



After, we started with a worksheet for notes titled “The British in India”. The BEIC, acronym for the British East India Company, was one of the main factors that helped British power increase in India. It was a joint-stock corporation, controlled by people who invested and owned stocks.



In India, Sepoys were Indian soldiers who worked for the British army. The Sepoy Mutiny (Mutiny = uprising, rebellion, etc.) in 1858. This was due to the British not telling the Sepoys, who are strictly Hindu or Muslim, that the gun cartridges they were using were sealed by cow fat. (The cartridges had to be opened by biting off the seal; Hindus and Muslims consider the cow a sacred animal and do not eat them.) The Sepoy army became infuriated once the British did not care they were against the animal fat, so the British seemed to not respect their country/religion.



The rebellion lasted for six months, and wound up failing. The main result being that the British took direct rule of India. (India is ruled by British officials.)



Another sheet we worked on had the benefits and disadvantages to British rule in India, my half of the class worked on benefits. Some of the benefits were: the charitable aid in famine, education available for males and females, resurrection of Indian literature, Peace, order, and freedom of speech, development of new valuable products and increase of exports and introduction of telegraphs.



The next post will be from Dan Ma. :P