Book contents
- A History of Bangladesh
- A History of Bangladesh
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Plates
- Maps and Figures
- Preface to Second Edition
- Acknowledgements
- Timeline
- Introduction
- Part I The Long View
- Part II Colonial Encounters
- Chapter 5 From the Mughal Empire to the British Empire
- Chapter 6 British Legacies
- Chapter 7 A Closing Agrarian Frontier
- Chapter 8 Colonial Conflicts
- Chapter 9 Towards Partition
- Chapter 10 Partition
- Chapter 11 Population Exchange
- Part III Becoming East Pakistan
- Part IV War and the Birth of Bangladesh
- Part V Independent Bangladesh
- Conclusion
- Bangladesh District Maps
- Key Political Figures since 1947
- Glossary of Bengali Terms
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 6 - British Legacies
from Part II - Colonial Encounters
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2021
- A History of Bangladesh
- A History of Bangladesh
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Plates
- Maps and Figures
- Preface to Second Edition
- Acknowledgements
- Timeline
- Introduction
- Part I The Long View
- Part II Colonial Encounters
- Chapter 5 From the Mughal Empire to the British Empire
- Chapter 6 British Legacies
- Chapter 7 A Closing Agrarian Frontier
- Chapter 8 Colonial Conflicts
- Chapter 9 Towards Partition
- Chapter 10 Partition
- Chapter 11 Population Exchange
- Part III Becoming East Pakistan
- Part IV War and the Birth of Bangladesh
- Part V Independent Bangladesh
- Conclusion
- Bangladesh District Maps
- Key Political Figures since 1947
- Glossary of Bengali Terms
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
European rule brought the people of Bengal economic upheaval, a social shake-up and a cultural kick in the teeth. The British were unlike the Mughals – they wanted more than just to extract Bengal’s riches. It was their ambition to transform Bengal’s economy to make it yield them much more income. To this end they subjected the population of Bengal to an endless series of social, administrative and economic experiments. Among these were ‘permanent settlement’, a system of land rights and taxation that enabled the British to distance their administration from the vagaries of nature, climate and social upheaval in the Bengal delta. They had a rural gentry collect the colonial taxes on their behalf. Other institutions of rule and commodity production for far-flung markets further shaped local society. An important legacy was the transformation of religious identities – notably Hindu and Muslim – into political ones, creating the ‘communal’ politics that are still prominent in Bangladesh.
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- A History of Bangladesh , pp. 63 - 81Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020