Chapter 25: The West and the World.

While industrialization and nationalism were transforming urban and agricultural life throughout the Europe, Western society itself was reshaping the world. The late 19^th and early 20^th century witnessed the widespread of European empires abroad especially in the Asian and African world. This chapter talks about the causes of and results of expansion by western powers. Not only we see the causes for the expansion but also we will notice how God Glory and Gold will come into play in this chapter. Western world thought it was their soul duty assigned to them by almighty God to improve the lives of people in underdeveloped countries. Not everyone agreed to the Western expansion, in this chapter we will see many uprising s and revolts against the colonial powers. The term for European power’s far-flung expansion is known as new imperialism.

 Objective: To better understand the chapter and examine some of the happenings during expansion.

Essential Question:

Explain why was India considered as the ‘Jewel of Crown’?

India was the most important British Colony and most favorite one. India is a rich country with loads of raw materials and spices. Indian spices and tea leaves are famous in the whole world. British took benefit from these raw material and spices to make good profits. Raw cotton, indigo and jute were exported to Britain to create finished products and sell them throughout the world. British made huge profit from the tea leaves which are natural to resources to India. British saw India not only as a supplier for raw material but also as a market for finished products. British technological advances allowed them to produce finished products at much cheaper rate compared to Indian handloom and handicraft industry. British mass produced finished products were lot cheaper than other handmade products in India so people bought British goods letting British make huge profits and letting handicraft industry to vanish. British bought the handmade products for cheaper rates as there were very few buyers left and took them to Britain eventually selling them for huge profits. India benefitted Britain during both world wars by supplying millions of soldiers to fight on the fronts and provide the goods and services needed to by the British army to fight the world wars. All these factors and many other factors made India the favorite colony of British Empire and was known as Jewel of the Crown.