Question

18th century in india a dark age?comment.

Answer 1

The political, economic and social transitions witnessed in 18th century India have been subject to great historical debate. Most historians view this century as marked by two important transitions – (i) in the first half of the 18th century the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of regional political orders and (ii) in the second half of the 18th century post the battle of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) a transition in the society, economy and polity of India occurred, as the English East India Company began to assume political control in north India. The debate regarding the first half of the 18th century revolved around the reasons for decline of the Mughal Empire and the nature socio-economic change that followed. Two broad views can be outlined –(i) Dark Age view-the first and earliest view held that political collapse of the Mughal Empire in the early 18th century, initiated a process of economic and social decline across India, and thus the 18th century was a “Dark Age”. (ii)