Discuss the British colonial intervention in india's polity in early 19th century
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The British presence in India began as a commercial enterprise: the British East India Company, a trading organization, had been active on the subcontinent since the early 1600s and, by the middle of the 1700s, had turned India into what historian Philip J. Stern calls “the company state.” However, the 19th century witnessed the peak of Britain’s colonial era, when India was considered the crown jewel of a huge empire on which, as a contemporary phrase put it, "the sun never set."
Through the second half of the 19th century, the amount of India's territory under either direct or indirect British control grew as officials signed treaties with local princes. Under the agreements, the land was considered British territory but the princes continued to rule, albeit with interference from British officials and under constant threat of removal if they stepped out of line. Some princes became tremendously wealthy under the British regime; the Nizam of Hyderabad, for example, became the world’s richest man.
Through the second half of the 19th century, the amount of India's territory under either direct or indirect British control grew as officials signed treaties with local princes. Under the agreements, the land was considered British territory but the princes continued to rule, albeit with interference from British officials and under constant threat of removal if they stepped out of line. Some princes became tremendously wealthy under the British regime; the Nizam of Hyderabad, for example, became the world’s richest man.
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