Mohandas Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948): 

Major Events in the Life of a Revolutionary Leader Items appearing in bold are included in the glossary. 

On October 2 in the small principality of Porbandar, Gujarat Province (Northwest India), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born third son to a wealthy Hindu family. His father, Karamchand Gandhi, was a high-ranking official of the regional government. India had been a British crown colony for over a decade when Gandhi was born. In 1857, following a series of well publicized and bloody rebellions by Indian troops serving the British East India Company (“the Company”), the crown stepped in to assume direct control of most of the subcontinent. The Company became increasingly active in Indian internal trade and politics since its charter as a joint stock trading company in 1600. By the nineteenth century, the Company had become the de facto government of much of India, exercising direct or indirect control over nearly all of the country. The rebellions of 1857 highlighted the more exploitative aspects of Company rule, catalyzing a movement by British reformers to shift control of India from private Company rule to direct rule by the British government.  Click Here to Read Complete