Imperial Ethics: British India

Sunday, April 3, 2011

British India

Although the grandeur associated with the Roman Empire seems unrivaled, the British Rule of India may have been a little grander. The peak population of the Roman Empire around the age of the Antonines is estimated at 120,000,000, with the Italian population included in this figure. The population of India at the time of British rule was no less than 150,000,000 without including any of the British population.

It should also be noted that Rome had the advantage of location on its side with Italy perfectly situated in the Mediterranean, the basis of the Roman Empire’s power. The Mediterranean was a clear “boundary” of this power as, “a short journey in almost any direction from it would have taken the traveller completely from under the protection of the eagles”. England did not have this same advantage as India and England are separated by sea, land, and some of the most powerful European nations. It is no coincidence then that England’s conquest of India can be solely attributed to the superiority of the British navy. As Hazewell phrases it, “The condition of Indian dominion is ocean dominion”.

While there are some considerable differences in the British and Roman Empires, they share one resemblance. Both empires were comprised of a multitude of different countries and cultures. This is obviously more evident in the case of the Roman Empire which ruled over Syrians, Greeks, Egyptians, and other Eastern peoples. India was at the time, made up of ten different civilized nations with entirely different cultures. In both cases, this division played into the hands of the conqueror. With so little in common, the nations and cultures on the defensive did not combine against their conquerors. Without this key factor at play, both empires would have been hard-pressed to build the grand empires remembered in history.