ABSTRACT
With the danger from France allayed, Britain moved into direct control of India in 1858. Its hegemony in the Indian Ocean region as a whole was steadily consolidated. Justification was found in the civilizing (meaning modernizing along English lines) and humanizing (often linked to Christian missionizing) role claimed by the British. In the nine decades of the resulting British Raj, the British enjoyed a relative security in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean possessions enriched Britain tremendously. In terms of purchasing British manufactures alone, India (along with the United States) was one of the two largest purchasers of British goods (each importing £21m of goods in 1867). To this were added sales to other Indian Ocean customers, including most notably Australia (importing £8m in that year) and Singapore (accounting for £2m). Muslims, who for so long had enjoyed a high profile in Indian Ocean trade, were now decisively left behind, while the principal non-Indian Ocean competitors, Russia, Germany, and Japan, would for a century challenge the British position in vain.
