Warren Hastings

Warren Hastings (1732–1818) was a British colonial administrator who served as the first governor-general of Bengal from 1773 to 1785. His rule expanded and reorganized the East India Company’s government in India.

Regulating Act 1773: A British law that reorganized the East India Company’s government and established the governor-generalship of Bengal. It created the office Hastings held and placed Company government under parliamentary oversight.
Bengal revenue system: The institutions and practices used to assess and collect land revenue in Bengal. Hastings repeatedly altered revenue administration to increase and regularize Company income.
Philip Francis: A British politician and Company official who opposed Hastings on the Bengal Council and later returned to Britain. Their bitter council disputes shaped debates over Hastings’s policies and conduct.
Rohilla War: The 1774 conflict in which the East India Company assisted Awadh’s ruler in conquering Rohilkhand. Hastings authorized Company military assistance in return for payment, a decision later attacked during his impeachment.
Impeachment of Warren Hastings: The 1787–1795 proceedings in the British House of Lords accusing Hastings of abuses during his Indian administration. The trial turned disputes over his rule into a prolonged national debate about imperial power.
Provincial Councils: Regional administrative bodies established by the East India Company to supervise revenue collection and civil justice. Hastings used these councils in reorganizing district-level administration.
Edmund Burke: An Irish-born British statesman and political thinker who led the prosecution of Hastings in Parliament. Burke made Hastings’s impeachment a case against abuses of imperial power.
Chait Singh: The ruler of Benares whose conflict with Hastings in 1781 followed demands for additional troops and payments. Hastings’s confrontation with Chait Singh became a central charge in the impeachment proceedings.
East India Company: An English joint-stock company that established commercial and territorial power in South Asia. Hastings governed Bengal as the Company’s senior administrator, not as a British Crown official.
Adalat: A court in South Asia, including courts established by the East India Company under British rule. Hastings’s judicial reforms developed Company-run civil and criminal adalats.

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