History of Indian independence day

History of India’s Independence

Over the course of history, India has faced several invasions. While most of the invaders made their intentions clear right from the word go, the British managed to bring India under their control through a business venture. It all started with the British East India Company, which started off as a mere joint-stock company, but slowly went about spreading its wings and influence, before the British government finally took control of the entire country. 

The British company had landed in India in the early seventeenth century as traders, but began interfering in Indian affairs around 1750s. After the battle of Plassey (1757), it began to transform from a trading company to a ruling force. As the British began to spread their tentacles over a large part of India, the exploitation of local resources and people began in full force. The British were concerned just about consolidating their rule and power. 

The British rule had a damaging effect on the social, economic, cultural and political life of Indians, which gradually forced common masses and rulers to rise in revolt against the British rule. Several agrarian, tribal, and political rebellions broke out against the foreign rule, but it was the rebellion of 1857, which proved as a launch pad for all the subsequent struggles against the British rule. 

The continuously increasing awareness, contact with the outside world, and the urge to free the motherland, gave rise to an organized movement by the end of the nineteenth century, which uprooted the 200-year-old British rule in 1947.

Regional movements prior to 1857

Several regional movements against foreign rule were staged in various parts of pre-1857 India. However, they were not united and were easily controlled by the foreign rulers. Examples include the Sannyasi Rebellion in Bengal in the 1770s an 1787 ethnic revolt against Portuguese control of Goa known as the Conspiracy Of The Pintos and uprisings by South Indian local chieftains against British rule. Notable among the latter is Veerapandya Kattabomman, who ruled the present-day Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu. He questioned the need for native Indians to pay taxes on agricultural produce to foreign rulers and battled the British until the latter, victorious, hanged him. Other movements included the Santal Rebellion and the resistance offered to the British by Titumir in Bengal, the Kittur rebellion led by Rani Chennamma and Sangolli Rayanna in Karnataka.