Page 64 - Soul of India: The Colorful South

During the reign of the Mughals, Indian culture was as creative and brilliant as any in the
world. The Mughals adopted the local religion, Islam, and spent a great deal of their ill-gained
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of this time is evident in India’s great mosques and mausoleums, including the Taj Mahal,
constructed under Shah Jahan.

The Age of Colonization
In 1498, Vasco de Gama discovered an ocean route around the Cape of Good Hope, beginning
a period of bitter struggle between the European powers for supremacy in the Indian trade.
By 1751, the French had taken control of much of India through military force. The British
mounted a successful military campaign to overthrow the French and establish a monopoly on
trade for the British East India Company. Although Britain did not declare India a colony, the
British East India Company came to be the dominant political force in the country by using
Indian soldiers to assert its will over the government and other European trade companies.

By the 1850s, Indian nationalists had grown wary of this arrangement. They fomented a
revolt among the Indian soldiers employed by the company. In 1857, the soldiers struck
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government and named Queen Victoria Empress of India in 1877.

Despite many advances under British rule, including the construction of railways, canals,
irrigation works, schools, mills and factories, Indian resentment continued to increase, and
nationalism had reached a fever pitch by the onset of the First World War. Led by Mohandas
Gandhi, Indian nationalists gained control of Congress and began a campaign of non-
cooperation with the British.

The Dawn of Independence

During World War II, the Indian Congress agreed to serve with the British only one
condition—that India would be granted independence at the close of the war. The British
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Japanese; what’s more, the British granted independence to India in 1947.

The new nation was marred by internal rioting between Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi’s
attempts to end the strife and create unity were cut short when he was shot dead in 1948.
Remarkably, his death brought the country together, thereby ending the violence and leading
to reconciliation between the warring religious groups.

Under the rule of Prime Minister Nehru, India undertook a policy of non-alignment, hoping
to maintain peaceful relations with all nations. After Nehru’s death, his daughter, Indira
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controversial. She censored the press, had thousands of political opponents arrested and
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and eventually imprisoned. Amazingly, she was re-elected shortly after her release from

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