75 years of Independence: From ‘Koots’ to anti-British armed struggles in coastal Karnataka

In coastal Karnataka, the freedom struggle had its roots in the farmers’ movement against high taxes

The mass insurrection against the British administration began in the coastal belt two decades prior to the First War of Independence in 1857 and nearly a century ahead of the Civil Disobedience Movement that began in 1930. Peasant uprisings, which the British called “Koots”, that broke out against the East India Company in the coastal belt during 1830-31, reached the stage of an armed struggle in 1837.