The Sepoy Mutiny
Many years before the sepoy mutiny occurred, English merchants formed a group called the East India Company and built trading posts along the coast of India. The East India Company began to take control of various cities in India, including Bengal, Calcutta, and Delhi. Many native Indians, both Muslim and Hindu, who agreed to work for the East India Company became soldiers of the British Army. These native soldiers were called sepoys.
In 1857, the governor of Bengal assembled an army and tried to force the English to leave Calcutta. The sepoys began to rebel all over the northwest of India under the leadership of Emperor Bahadur Shah. The well trained British army defeated the sepoys and captured Emperor Shah, finding him guilty of treason. Queen Victoria took India away from the East India Company and announced that India was a colony of Britain. India was governed by the Queen and Parliament with the help of a head official called the Viceroy of India.
