"The Empire on which the sun never sets"

As you know, the title phrase of this post refers to the global empires set up by Europeans between the 15th and the 19th centuries.
Imperialism or European colonisation was heralded by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the early 15th century, a period known as the "Age of Discovery". We have all heard of Columbus and Magellan; there were many many more of them who spread out to discover "new lands"...the Americas, African coast, Middle east, India, eastern Asia and even Australia. Soon after, they were joined by the British, the French and the Dutch in direct competition in exploration (they actually started as pirate attacks on Spanish fleets loaded with riches obtained from the new lands...but soon they developed their own expeditions and settlements).
The Spanish colonialization was primarily for bolstering their economic status by trade and religious conversions; on the other hand, the British colonization was mainly aimed at "making new societies" as per the whims of the colonists and then began the enslavement of "native savages". British Imperialism, as it turned out, flourished over all others especially after Napolean's downfall and its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.....!!
Decolonization began in earnest only in the 20th century. This interesting animated link here shows the rise and fall of British Empire. Over the hundreds of years of colonization, millions of people moved to and from the British colonies. There have been pros and cons of this Imperialization; on one hand spread of technology early on was one of the advantages, on the other, tension and discontent between the native and non-native settlers continues till date.

So now you may ask...why this discussion on the history of colonization, especially British Imperialism :)
Well, yesterday I watched this movie called Pocahontas (animated Disney movie) where the story backdrop is an English governor who is seeking gold and riches in the "new land" and is ready to sacrifice the savages inhabiting the land which is now "His".
What the discussion between me and my friend led to was......... human settlements evolved and developed at several places simultaneously across the globe... why was it then that the European settlements progressed and developed much faster than the others?? The civilizations may have arose across several parts of the world and grew too, but technological development was much faster here which empowered them to dominate the world....why was it so? I have not yet been able to find an answer to that yet. So....help!!!! :) and if you think that I have got some points wrong...feel free to point them out.



Update: Rahul said...

Jared Diamond has written a whole book to analyze that question! "Guns, Germs and Steel" is exactly about this question! Almost exactly, actually. Because I don't think he answers "why europe and not India?" He answers, "why Eurasia and not Africa/Americas/Australia?"
His basic thesis is based on the fact the Eurasia has the longest extended East-West Axis among all the continents. The cultural/technological manifestations of this simple geographic fact led to Eurasian culture dominating the world today. Basically, it is easier for technology to transfer along a latitude rather than across one, because the climatic conditions change much faster along a longitude. This means that any new invention/discovery that happened anywhere throughout the most populous areas of asia soon spread throughout the other regions unlike, say, Americas, where A Mayan invention would hardly travel more than a couple hundred miles due to constraints imposed by geography/climate.

I guess I'll have to read this one soon..... :)

Fun and Food Village.........

It is that time of the year again when Boss is far far away across continents and taking advantage of the fact the lab-mice (us...the poor tortured souls of students)are free to dare to step outside the institute premises. Okay okay......I don't mean that literally :P
I miss the old IISc lab-gang where it was mandatory to leave for a short trip/trek the night boss decided to fly away. I had a great time for the first three years of my PhD. But I am sorry to say that the current lab group is soooooooooo lazy and un-enthu that I have almost forgotten how much fun these trips are and can be.......
Last week I floated the idea of a one-day outing (long weekend...would have preferred a short trip outside delhi...a trek or something...but definitely no takers for that!!) and got about 12 people to visit this amusement park near delhi-gurgaon highway....the Fun and Food Village.....
Guess what...by the eve of the outing when I was giving out the deadline for taxi-bookings...the number had fallen down to a measly 5 people!!
I was in half a mind to cancel it out but then thought...what the heck......the 5 of us might as well go and have fun....opportunities such as this do not come everyday!!
And I am glad that we did go...... of course every trip has to start with me hitting a temporary red zone.......WHY CAN'T PEOPLE EVER BE ON TIME!!!..... I H.A.T.E waiting and also at the same time keeping someone else (here the taxi-waala) waiting. But the moment the journey starts ...all is forgiven and forgotten.....probably just because there is this thankfulness ki we are actually now having a trip? Anyway.....we did manage to reach quite early while the amusement park was not so crowded. It was a good place....lots of water rides and a big wave pool. Plus points for the water rides...minus points for not having the dry rides open before lunch. Plus points for providing swimwear at nominal rates...minus points for the tiny lockers. I am a water baby :) and had a great time splashing around...so did the others.... 3-4 hrs in water and of course we were exhausted and hungry.... the food zone though limited in variety made up for it in its taste (I do wonder though if it would have tasted as good if we weren't so famished :P anyway....it did serve its purpose well at the time required..so no complaints there). There was this mini-water bar kind of place in the lazy river zone which became our niche post-lunch ......simply floating there and chatting away......we dared not try out the rides for the fear of emptying out our meals :P !! The dry rides were limited but ok ...the Columbus was good and the hooting was the fun part....but as is always the case...once you have spent so much time playing in water you get really tired and don't enjoy other rides much....that's why I prefer to get over with the dry rides first and then enter the wet-zone. Was a fun-day overall :)
May have been my last "lab-trip"....not too sure....secretly wish it is and I leave soon.... :P

Hate mail.........

Stay put, deal with it, don't run away, it's all a part of life ......... i know i know i know...

But i wish i could at times just zap out all people around me and turn off completely all the voices in my head.....

I need peace .......... but not quiet .....

I wish i were atop a mountain....the breeze flowing fiercely all around me.... water gushing below....... scream at the top of my voice....just let go and flow....with the wind...or the water stream..... flow and flow and flow ..... tire myself out physically......till i lose the turbulence within and regain the tranquility.

Open your eyes....back in the world
Move on .... deal with it.....................

Books Books Books ..... !!!

Today I visited the International Book Fair at Pragati Maidan. Made it finally!!! This is one of the times when I actually did not miss out on the announcements of the fair and actually saw the announcement pre-commencement of the fair....but in the mad rush of everyday things to do finally did manage to squeeze it into my schedule on the very last day....had to sacrifice my weekend trip home (mum's complaining a bit :P ) but it was definitely worth it. Come to think of it......any trip to a book-store, exhibition or fair is always worth it for me :D I think I need to be prevented from time to time from visiting book stores....I invariably end up buying something even if I have some pending unread stuff with me.
I had given up hope of visiting the book fair this time due to my busy schedule and then consoled myself saying "I have enough books to keep me occupied for quite some time". But unexpectedly, yesterday when Tanu (my labmate) suggested a visit, I half-heartedly said yes and being exhausted almost cancelled it too....but finally did keep my promise. A step into the hall full of books and the smell of fresh untouched pages of brand new books was all it took to make me feel really glad that I did come :)
Books...books...books....everywhere....and all kinds.... it was simply wonderful.......some stalls bring back such wonderful memories.....MacMillan, Longman, Orient and you think of all your school readers.....all the children's books....those that I used to look at longingly back then and didn't buy...and all those that I would love to buy for kids (I think I will make a nice storybook mom-aunt :P ) Cambridge, Wiley, Pearson etc. ....and it reminds me of all the exams that I have given :D
Then of course the favourites......Penguin, Rupa, Harper Collins.....aaaahhhh..... so much to read and so many constraints! Well, I did empty my pockets...and so much more than what I had anticipated :D (but I had the reassurance from Rahul....they could count as my b'day gifts..yayyy :D ).

Today's loot included "Open" Andre Agassi's autobiography, two books by Shashi Tharoor, Cyrus Broacha's latest and a collection of George Orwell books. And I get a book free for buying so many!!
Visited several other publisher stalls too and returned all happy and satisfied (well...almost....you leave with the hope of returning again and re-visiting the joy of being lost among the books). Four hours well spent!! And the first attack has been made already....target Agassi :P :D
I promise to be good and finish all these before I buy any more books ;)