The British introduced the sepoys to the Enfield rifle. It required only the end to be bitten off and the cartridge then rammed down the muzzle of the weapon. For this process the cartridge was heavily greased - with animal fat. Sepoys heard and quickly passed on the rumour that the grease was a mixture of cow (sacred to Hindus) and pig (foul to Muslims) fat. Biting such a cartridge would break the caste of the Hindu sepoys and taint the Muslims.
In Calcutta, the sepoys, or Indian troops, had heard rumours about this and refused to load the Enfield Rifles. The British then sentenced several Indians to jail and hanged one sepoy. Then in Meerut, sepoys refused to use the cartridges and the British then sentenced 85 Sepoys to Fort William to be imprisoned. The Sepoys' friends then shot the British troops stationed at the fort and freed the imprisoned sepoys. Afterwards, all of them marched to Delhi, thus starting the tragic Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
Word Count (excluding parentheses and quotations): 342
- How far was trade the most important reason for the Scramble for Africa towards the end of the nineteenth century?
During the end of the 19th century there was heavy colonisation, Africa saw the most dramatic colonisation. It was divided up as if it had been a cake split between greedy European powers. This was called the "Scramble for Africa". There were many motives for this scramble by the European powers. The motives were: economic, strategic, colonising, aggressive, and leadership these were the purposes of colonising in Africa.
Trade would be part of the economic motives. The main economic motives were to gain raw materials which Africa was full of. Africa had resources to offer such as rubber and copper and riches such as ivory, gold and diamonds which initially attracted European powers to colonise Africa and earn profits, European countries realised that by captivating African resources and riches they could establish trade with other countries for other materials and resources. This made the economic motive a key factor.
But there were plenty of other motives for the Scramble of Africa. Most European countries used their colonies for the country’s excess population or rebellious people, they took African natives slaves because they were cheap labour force these were colonizing motives. Many European countries wanted to spread their religious belief which was Christianity this was a missionary motive. Britain took the Suez Canal so that it can reach India faster and covering less distance, instead of going around Africa this was a strategic motive. Belgium colonized Congo (which is around 80 times larger than Belgium) to feel prideful and to boast Belgian’s reputation, this was a leadership motive. British were extremely confident and had expressed aggression when they fought the Zulus knowing that it would be an easy victory as Britain was technologically far superior (having machine guns) this was an aggressive motive.
To say trade was the most important reason for the scramble of Africa would be an exaggeration. It is quite evident that there were many other important motives and although the economic motive might have been a key motive, trade was not.
Word Count (excluding parentheses and quotations): 320
Sources of information
Indian Mutiny:
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Packet: Catchpole, Brian
"Imperialism 1800-1914"
International School Desktop
Publishing, York, 1991
Scramble for Africa:
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