THE COLONIAL SUBJUGATION OF INDIA (HB)

British ascendancy in the
world was preceded by over two centuries of colonial intervention in Asia
during the course of which the strength and independence of sovereign nations
and polities in the region were undermined?their economies subjugated, their
military strength weakened, and their societies penetrated. In? The Colonial Subjugation of India , eminent
historian Amar Farooqui tells the story of the formation of the British
empire in India and presents a minutely detailed narrative of the violence
inflicted on the people of this part of the world to conquer it and the
instruments of coercion that were put in place to rule over it. Beginning
with the arrival of Portuguese, Dutch, French, and, finally, British
mercantile ships in the Indian Ocean throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, this book charts the course of Britain?s rise as the dominant
colonial power in the Indian subcontinent. It traces India?s history of
anti-colonial resistance starting with the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and
explains how the country attained freedom through a long and sustained
struggle extending over nearly two centuries; how the revolt of 1857 was an
important moment in this struggle; and how the national liberation movement
of the period between the 1920s and 1947 culminated in independence on 15
August 1947, representing the triumph of anti-colonial Indian nationalism
over British imperialism.

An important and groundbreaking study of a crucial period of modern Indian
history,? The Colonial Subjugation of
India? attempts to show that, no matter
what traditional accounts of British colonialism and monarchy may state,
empire was anything but benign.