Capital
Calcutta (until 1911), Delhi (after 1911)
Founder
British East India Company, later British Crown
Duration
c. 190 years (Company + Crown rule)
Category
Empire
Timeline
1600 CE
East India Company Founded
Queen Elizabeth I charters the British East India Company.
1757 CE
Battle of Plassey
Robert Clive defeats Siraj-ud-Daulah, beginning British political control.
1764 CE
Battle of Buxar
British victory secures control over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.
1857 CE
Indian Rebellion
The Sepoy Mutiny / First War of Independence.
1858 CE
British Raj Begins
The Crown takes direct control from the East India Company.
1885 CE
Indian National Congress Founded
The first major political party for Indian self-rule.
1919 CE
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
A turning point in the independence movement.
1947 CE
Independence and Partition
India gains independence and is partitioned into India and Pakistan.
Geography
Map of Empire
Forts
Battlefields
Temples
Trade Routes
Governance
Administration
British parliamentary system with Viceroy and Governor-General; Indian Civil Service (ICS); stratified administration with limited Indian participation
Prosperity
Economy
Colonial economy focused on raw material extraction (cotton, indigo, tea, opium, jute); deindustrialization; railway construction; introduction of zamindari system
Currency: Indian rupee (backed by silver standard), East India Company coinage
Defense
Military
British Indian Army (largest volunteer army in the world by WWII); sepoys, cavalry, artillery; institutionalized military traditions
Design
Architecture
Indo-Saracenic architecture (Victoria Terminus, Taj Mahal Hotel, Victoria Memorial); neoclassical buildings (Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament); railway stations; hill stations (Shimla, Darjeeling)
Heritage
Culture
Introduction of English education and printing press; Indian Renaissance (Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Tagore); freedom movement literature; revival of Indian art and crafts
Legacy
Achievements
Railway network connecting the entire subcontinent (over 50,000 km)
Modern education system — universities in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras (1857)
Telegraph and postal service connecting India to the world
Codification of Indian law (Indian Penal Code under Macaulay)
Modern medicine and public health infrastructure
Unified administrative framework across the subcontinent
Indian independence movement culminating in 1947
Sunset
Decline
Culminated in the Indian independence movement led by Gandhi, Nehru, and others; independence and Partition in 1947 ended British rule
Sources
Historical References
The Great Rebellion
Account of the 1857 Rebellion.
An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Gandhi's personal narrative.
The Discovery of India
Nehru's historical reflection on India.
India: A History
Comprehensive history of India.
Victoria Memorial, Kolkata
Monument to British India built between 1906-1921.