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> That is a colonial view point, surely the Indians traded with the Romans or the Ancient Greeks, they were distinctly seen as Indians/Hindus and I am sure the

> That is a colonial view point, surely the Indians traded with the Romans or the Ancient Greeks, they were distinctly seen as Indians/Hindus and I am sure the Indians were aware of it. An external group calling you "indians" is pretty thin cloth for saying that the Indian nation has a long history as a nation. Nobody is denying that people in an area often have cultural similarities. Similarly you will find ancient sources talking about "Africa" or "Europe" or "Asia" but it doesn't mean that these are all automatically nations, or that if someone in the future invents a nation in those locales - it doesn't mean that said nation has an ancient history as a nation - although there will be no shortage of people trying to retcon history like in India. > Until very recently much of the European wealth can be attributed to colonisation, territorial expansionism (Americas) & slavery. The trade at best can be described as mercantilism (checkout salt tax). I mean, this just isn't true. I have noticed when I have been in India that people there like to construct some fiction about how all the wealth in Britain or even Europe in general was stolen in some giant zero sum game from India. But in reality - many studies have really shown again and again that India was a prestige project that made some aristocrats wealthy but the overall impact on the UK was negative. A bit like with wars and occupations we see today - such as the recent gulf war - there's some who promote it, are influential, and even get wealthy, but the overall effect on the occupying country is a net negative economically.

naruvimama 5y ago
The Indian epics like Ramayana & Mahabharatha, talk about India as a whole, it is well known not only across current day India but is shared cultural heritage of several countries in the wider region like Indonesia or Thailand. Just as the Scandinavian countries share the Norse mythology. > like to construct some fiction about how all the wealth The only fiction is in the minds of colonial apologists, the coincidence of the impoverishment of India along with the rise of Europe is too hard to miss. > India was a prestige project You mean the Europeans funded hundreds of ships desperately to find an alternate trade route to India, for a prestige project? What next the whole colonisation & slavery was a prestige project to export human rights. The mercantile policies of the crown were very clear, banning the construction of ships or locomotives, taxing salt to such an extent that it was cheaper to import salt from Britain. While it is true that aristocrats became insanely rich, and very many Brits lived miserable lives far worse than in many princely states. It is merely due the rigid "class/caste" system that was prevalent in Europe esp. in Britain. Colonial wealth definitely played a singular role in making Europe wealthy today.

naruvimama 5y ago

The Indian epics like Ramayana & Mahabharatha, talk about India as a whole, it is well known not only across current day India but is shared cultural heritage of several countries in the wider region like Indonesia or Thailand. Just as the Scandinavian countries share the Norse mythology. > like to construct some fiction about how all the wealth The only fiction is in the minds of colonial apologists, the coincidence of the impoverishment of India along with the rise of Europe is too hard to miss. > India was a prestige project You mean the Europeans funded hundreds of ships desperately to find an alternate trade route to India, for a prestige project? What next the whole colonisation & slavery was a prestige project to export human rights. The mercantile policies of the crown were very clear, banning the construction of ships or locomotives, taxing salt to such an extent that it was cheaper to import salt from Britain. While it is true that aristocrats became insanely rich, and very many Brits lived miserable lives far worse than in many princely states. It is merely due the rigid "class/caste" system that was prevalent in Europe esp. in Britain. Colonial wealth definitely played a singular role in making Europe wealthy today.