An Era of Darkness The British Empire in India PDF Format Free Download. In 1930, the American historian and philosopher Will Durant wrote that Britain’s conscious and deliberate hemorrhage of India’s greatest crime in all of history. He was not the only one to denounce the rapacity and cruelty of British rule, and his appreciation was not exaggerated.
An Era of Darkness The British Empire in India PDF Format
In addition to the deaths of Indians, British rule impoverished India in an incredible way. When the East India Company took control of the country, in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Mughal empire, India’s share of world GDP was 23 percent. When the British left, it was just over 3 percent. The British Empire in India began with the East India Company, formed in 1600, by the royal statute of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, to trade in silk, spices, and other profitable Indian goods. In a century and a half, the Company had become a power to be reckoned with in India.
