Britain came to India before mid 18th C.
On Thu, Oct 07, 2004 at 10:41:41AM -0700, andie nachgeborenen wrote: > England a backwater in the mid 18th Century? Au > contraire. Before the Aramada (1588), England might > have been regarded as a backwater. In 1750, it was a > contender for Numver One Nation. jks > > --- "Perelman, Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > I hope that we can discuss this without acrimony. I > > understand that at > > the time of the British conquest of India, India was > > probably more > > advanced in England, which was a backwater of > > Europe. England had, > > however, extraordinarily good cannons -- may be the > > equivalent of our > > airplanes in Iraq. India had nothing to counter > > them. Unlike the US, > > understand that England was able to harness some of > > the traditional > > feudal government structures in India. > > > > But please, I sense some irritation boiling up in > > this discussion as > > well as the Russian thread. Let's keep it amicable. > > > > > > Michael Perelman > > Economics Department > > California State University > > michael at ecst.csuchico.edu > > Chico, CA 95929 > > 530-898-5321 > > fax 530-898-5901 > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of Doug > > Henwood > > Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 10:08 AM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Eurocentrism and capitalism > > > > Devine, James wrote: > > > > >It looks to me as if the basic story is that the > > Western Europeans > > >enjoyed some sort of luck that has nothing to do > > with genetic or > > >cultural differences between Europeans and Asians. > > This luck allowed > > >them to (1) conquer the Asians and other > > non-Europeans and (2) get > > >beyond mere market economics to develop the > > capitalist mode of > > >production before the Asians and other > > non-Europeans did so. > > > > I know this is dangerous territory, since it will > > cause explosions in > > certain volatile quarters. But is "luck" the right > > word? Something > > happened within Europe that encouraged conquest and > > led to the > > reinvestment of surplus rather than its consumption. > > I realize that > > historians have devoted their lives to examining > > just what this > > something was, but luck makes it sounds like winning > > at roulette > > rather than something explicable by social science. > > > > Doug > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
