British crown rule .281857.E2.80.931947.29 History of Ahmedabad

ahmedabad city , environ map 1866



street scene of 1890

from 1857 1865, time of great prosperity. municipal government established in 1858. american civil war (1863-1865) helped economy of city. railway connecting ahmedabad bombay opened in 1864. ahmedabad grew rapidly, becoming important center of trade , textile manufacturing. city damaged floods in 1868 , in 1875.

in 1877, city suffered fire. on 27 january 1877, there explosion of gunpowder in bohora s shop. shop, in more 500 pounds of gunpowder, ten @ night found on fire. gunpowder exploded burning 5 shops , killing eighty-eight people. 2 months later, on night of 24 march 1877, fire broke out in chief enclosure, pol, of sarangpur area. street narrow , lined four-story high houses. greatest difficulty fire engines brought play on fire. military called in , ten next morning fire got under, not until ninety-four houses had been burned , property worth £60,000 (rs. 6,00,000) destroyed.

in 1878, lower classes suffered high prices of food-grains while upper classes dullness of trade , losses in bombay mills.

women gathering cowdung, ahmedabad (c. 1870)



street scene of ahmedabad, 1890

the old mercantile , industrial elite, relative sophistication in matters of industry, trade , financing, poised expand under british rule, using own financing new technology, represented british machinery. instead of few merchants introducing new industrial machinery, elsewhere in india, in ahmedabad mercantile class whole supported new techniques, though hand spinners , handloom weavers, female spinners in outlying communities had traditional operations upset result. , others recruited new manufacturing plants. merchant class tended support british, thinking rule provided more security under marathas, lower taxes (including lower octroi), , more property rights.

unlike other areas of india, british rule meant no major upsetting of community s traditional social system, although traditional peasant landowning class, banias , patidars, absorbed jain business community. british did not have financing vacuum fill in city, presence limited administrative , military spheres. unlike other indian cities, ahmedabad lacked comprador class or dominant, western-educated middle class. western education slower introduced city in other indian cities. there little english higher education available in city , no english-language newspapers there in 19th century.

instead of education in english language , culture, technology education promoted in late 19th century. ranchhodlal chhotalal, nagar brahmin founded spinning , weaving company in city in 1859, ordered city withdraw support high school in 1886 , instead finance technical education. starting in 1889, city financed scholarships technical students. no western-oriented academic center in city, there no opposing political reaction western influences, , city. entire discourse of tradition versus modernity, thrown exposure western literature , culture, non-existent in ahmedabad, according literary scholar svati joshi.

schools girls, in upper classes, founded in mid-19th century. maganbhai karamchand, jain businessman, , harkor shethani, jain widow. 1 visitor, mary carpenter, wrote in 1856 after visiting city, found how far behind ahmedabad these other places [like calcutta] in effort promote female education among leading hindus, in emancipation of ladies thraldom imposed custom; , in self-effort improvement on own part.

the struggle independence british took roots in city. in 1915, mahatma gandhi came south africa , established 2 ashrams in city, kochrab ashram near paldi in 1915 , satyagraha ashram on banks of sabarmati in 1917. latter later called harijan ashram or sabarmati ashram. started salt satyagraha in 1930. , many followers marched ashram coastal village of dandi, gujarat, protest against british imposing tax on salt. before left ashram, vowed not return ashram until india became independent.