The Economic History of India: Under Early British Rule

The author undoubtedly was one of the great figures of his generation in India. Taken together, the two volumes cover the entire period of British rule in India,—from the battle of Plassey in 1757 to the commencement of the 20th century. No history of the people of India, of their trades, industries, and agriculture, and of their economic condition under British administration, has been compiled till then. Our story concerns itself with the growth of the British Empire in India, or rather with the economic condition of the people under that Empire. And it will enable us to trace the economic history of the people more clearly if we briefly review in this preliminary chapter those great political events which led to the steady rise and expansion of the British power during the period of eighty years which forms the subject of this volume, from the battle of Plassy in 1757 to the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.