Image Gallery
British Conquest in India c. 1857
A map illustrating the aggressive, opportunistic, and, most times, chaotic expansion of British rule in the Indian subcontinent following the Battle of Plassey (1757) until the eve of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 through the East India Company’s use of private armies, corruption, coercion, and subsidiary alliances. This expansion was driven by a toxic mix of personal ambition, greed, security anxieties, and the need for revenue. By the mid-1850s, the Company had fully exploited the political and commercial rivalries of the disintegrating Mughal Empire, expanded its domains at the expense of native powers like Mysore, the Marathas, and the Sikhs, and progressively conquered two-thirds of the subcontinent.
