Rani Chennamma of Kittur led an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in the year:

Rani Chennamma of Kittur (in the Belagavi district of present-day Karnataka) led an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in 1824.

Background:

• Kittur was a small princely state in the region of north Karnataka.
• After the death of her husband, Raja Mallasarja, and then her only son, in 1824, Rani Chennamma adopted a son, Shivalingappa, and made him the heir.
• The British refused to recognise the adopted son, and tried to take over the state and its treasury.
• This was an early example of the British refusing to accept adopted heirs, a policy later formalised by a Governor-General.

The rebellion:

• In October 1824, the British, under the Collector of Dharwad, John Thackeray, tried to seize Kittur.
• Rani Chennamma's forces fought back, and Thackeray was killed.
• Two British officers were taken hostage; they were released after negotiations, on the promise that the British would end the war, but the British broke this promise.
• In December 1824, a larger British army attacked Kittur.
• After a brave fight, the fort was captured.
• Rani Chennamma was captured and imprisoned in the fort of Bailhongal, where she died in 1829.
• Her commander, Sangolli Rayanna, continued a guerrilla struggle against the British until he was captured and hanged in 1831.

Legacy:

• Rani Chennamma is remembered as one of the first women rulers to fight against British rule, more than three decades before the Revolt of 1857.
• The "Kittur Utsav" is celebrated in her memory every year in October.
• A statue of Rani Chennamma stands in the Parliament complex in New Delhi.

Other women who fought the British:

• Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi (1857).
• Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh (1857).
• Rani Velu Nachiyar of Sivaganga (18th century).

Why not the other options?

• ✗1799 was the year of Tipu Sultan's death.
• ✗1857 was the year of the Revolt.
• ✗1831 was the year Sangolli Rayanna was hanged.