In years from 1858 to 1947, India was a British colony or a part of the British Empire, and used to be called the British Raj.
About 100 years of the British rule changed some aspects in India (in a negative as well as in a positive way). What’s mostly visible today, it’s an English language widely spoken by citizens (well… with a characteristic accent). Cricket is another “British remains” in India and nowadays it’s actually the most popular sport in India!
What “British” comes to your mind when you think about India?
British shame, I think, at our rapacious empire building.
I’m curious how India would looked like without that period…
An interesting thought experiment – someone should write a novel!
🙂
While the country is easy to travel around with everyone speaking English, I too wonder what the country would have looked like without that time period.
Somehow, I think it wouldn’t be as large as it is now…
That is something to ponder.
yeah…
As with all empires, there were both positive and negative effects of the British in India. I ‘m not condoling the idea of empires at all – just the opposite – but it is interesting to look at both good and bad. As The Monty Python team asked about the Roman conquest of Britain ‘What did the Romans ever do for us?’ Such questions, however jokingly made, generate speculation. 🙂
i absolutely agree!
the other interesting example are Caribbean islands, some of them are very poor, others are fine; and it somehow depends on which monarchy was in power there before…