How did the American Civil War affect the lives of the ryots in India ?
American Civil War that began in 1860 had a huge impact on the ryots of Deccan region in India. Following events explains how the impact took shape:
1.Britain was the country where large cotton mills were operational. These cotton mills depended on cotton imported from North America.
2.When the USA was reeling under civil war, it was naturally very difficult to import cotton from there.
3.The cotton mills were forced to look for alternative suppliers of cotton apart from US. India made a good option.
4.The farmers in Deccan were encouraged to grow cotton. One way was the easy access of credit. The moneylenders would give credit of Rs 100 for every acre of land under cotton cultivation.
5.The farmers benefitted out of this demand for cotton. But the real beneficiary were the big farmers and traders.
6.However, things changed as normalcy returned to US. Now the demand of cotton in India declined and so declined the easy availability of credit. The ryots fell back to old days of penury and rose in rebellion in many places.
What are the problems of using the official sources in writing about the history of peasants.
On an outline map of the subcontinent, mark out the areas described in this chapter. Find out whether there were other areas where the Permanent Settlement and the ryotwari system were prevalent and plot these on the map as well.