UC Irvine

This dissertation argues that the Bengal famine was a pivotal event that altered the histories of India, the British Empire, the British East India Company (EIC), and the global economy during the eighteenth century. Famines have been called the “engines of historical transformation,” and in the same vein the Bengal famine also proved itself to be a historical conjuncture as it left indelible marks on the political economy and administration of colonial India, the environmental history of Eastern India, and forever changed the colonial relationship between Britain and India. It further examines the formation of exploitative fiscal administrative system set up during the early years of British colonial rule in India that had a destructive effect on the society and economy of Bengal during the years of famine and disrupted the distribution of famine relief. The dissertation also explores the inception of early resistance against colonial policies in the form of peasant-led banditry and tribal resistance against colonial expansion which were triggered by the environmental consequences of the famine. Additionally, this dissertation shows that the EIC was not an unstoppable private corporation that greatly expanded the British Empire in Asia; instead, it was a mismanaged institution that nearly drove itself to bankruptcy within a few years of accepting the responsibility of governing a province. The failure of the EIC forced the British government to take a more active role in Indian affairs and thus set the stage for the British Raj or the Imperial Rule of India under the British crown in the mid-nineteenth century. The dissertation concludes by showing how the population loss caused by the famine shaped the policies of the British Raj that would trap South Asia within a vicious circle of famines and droughts till the mid-twentieth century. This study of the Bengal famine also contributes to the study of world history by bringing together the historiographies of early modern Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. The famine through its enduring effects on anti-colonial thought and movements, foundational views and ideas on capitalism, continues to influence policies on food security.