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Did the British and Americans do this kind of thing all over the world too? Or is this a new level?

by api 7y ago

duxup 7y ago
I couldn't tell you what the British did in detail although their companies certainly were paid to build railroads for other nations.... but that's just a matter of the engineering / railroad expertise not being there. That aspect I think is unavoidable.
- KineticLensman 7y ago
  > their companies certainly were paid to build railroads for other nations To be precise, the first railways in India were paid for by local British magnates / companies, e.g. to transport materials for other construction projects. From 1849 British companies still paid to build the railways themselves but they were given the land for free and guaranteed a 5% rate of return [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_I...
sytelus 7y ago
I haven't lived in those times but in British colonies, virtually all positions of power and money were reserved for the people from Britain. You could be Mr. Nobody in Worcester, go to India and suddenly turn in to upper class tax officer with bungalow and half dozen servants taking care of your property. On the other hand, a person of Indian origin could have spent large sums of family wealth to get educated in Oxford and have to settle for some lowly clerk when they come back regardless of how well they did. Many freedom movements were actually started by these England-educated Indian people who realized there was no place for meritocracy in British colonies when they came back.
- makomk 7y ago
  It's worth bearing in mind that the definition of "people from Britain" was probably rather different from the one we'd use today - at least for the lower-end jobs. For example, some of my own ancestors had rather well-paid jobs working on the Indian railways prior to independence that were probably the result of their British status. They'd also lived there for generations and were, by Western racial standards, Indian. (No-one from that branch of the family lives in India anymore. Things got rather ugly when independence happened.)
khuey 7y ago
The British and Americans generally preferred not to do the actual labor.

Did the British and Americans do this kind of thing all over the world too? Or is this a new level?

by api 7y ago

Did the British and Americans do this kind of thing all over the world too? Or is this a new level?

I couldn't tell you what the British did in detail although their companies certainly were paid to build railroads for other nations.... but that's just a matter of the engineering / railroad expertise not being there. That aspect I think is unavoidable.

KineticLensman 7y ago
> their companies certainly were paid to build railroads for other nations To be precise, the first railways in India were paid for by local British magnates / companies, e.g. to transport materials for other construction projects. From 1849 British companies still paid to build the railways themselves but they were given the land for free and guaranteed a 5% rate of return [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_I...

sytelus 7y ago

I haven't lived in those times but in British colonies, virtually all positions of power and money were reserved for the people from Britain. You could be Mr. Nobody in Worcester, go to India and suddenly turn in to upper class tax officer with bungalow and half dozen servants taking care of your property. On the other hand, a person of Indian origin could have spent large sums of family wealth to get educated in Oxford and have to settle for some lowly clerk when they come back regardless of how well they did. Many freedom movements were actually started by these England-educated Indian people who realized there was no place for meritocracy in British colonies when they came back.

makomk 7y ago
It's worth bearing in mind that the definition of "people from Britain" was probably rather different from the one we'd use today - at least for the lower-end jobs. For example, some of my own ancestors had rather well-paid jobs working on the Indian railways prior to independence that were probably the result of their British status. They'd also lived there for generations and were, by Western racial standards, Indian. (No-one from that branch of the family lives in India anymore. Things got rather ugly when independence happened.)

khuey 7y ago

The British and Americans generally preferred not to do the actual labor.