Consider the following statements : 1. British colonialism continued to grow steadily in the 18th and 19th centuries 2. Raw cotton for the textile industry in Britain during the industrial revolution needed to be imported Which of the statements given above is/arc corrcct ?

Statement 1 is correct as British colonialism expanded significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries, transitioning from the East India Company's mercantile control to direct Crown rule, which facilitated the consolidation of power across the Indian subcontinent [4]. Statement 2 is also correct because cotton does not grow in Western Europe's climate, making it an exotic material that had to be imported to feed the burgeoning British textile industry [4]. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain's demand for raw cotton soared from 2.5 million pounds in 1760 to 500,000 tons by 1860 [2]. To sustain this, Britain relied on imports from India, Egypt, and the American South [4]. British economic policy specifically transformed India into a primary supplier of raw materials and a consumer of finished British manufactured goods, leading to the deindustrialization of traditional Indian textile manufacturing [4].

Sources

1. [1] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 11: Industries > COTTON TEXTILE INDUSTRY > p. 8
2. [4] India and the Contemporary World – II. History-Class X . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 4: The Age of Industrialisation > 1.1 The Coming Up of the Factory > p. 82
3. [2] History , class XII (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 11: The Age of Revolutions > Spinning Jenny > p. 168