Incredible India - Historic Perspective

Without the little ice age, India would have been a very different country.

Those of you following the climate change debate will be aware that Earth experienced a drop in temperatures during the period from the 16th to the 19th centuries. In Europe that bought a change in power... where the church was able to comfort a distressed community with explanations as to why life was so hard. It gave rise to the most northerly nations focusing their resources on military adventures to capture lands to the south... where food was more plentiful.

In India, similar dynamics were at work. Genghis Kahn had organised his conquests during a benign warm period... but with the little ice age, his descendants needed to make alternative arrangements. So it happened that Barbur... the founder of the Moghul Empire... left his cold starving homeland in Uzbekistan... swept through modern Afghanistan... and won some important battles, in what is now, Northern India. Because of traditions passed down from Ghengis Kahn, Barbur knew how to organise an army with superior mobility and tactics for fast and furious engagement of isolated forces. He entered India at a time when Princely States were in a constant state of struggle. Now, there are 28 states in India... but in Barbur's times there were 20 principalities within each state... for those of you who are mathematically challenged... that means 560 principalities. Barbur had no difficulty playing one principality off against the other. He had no problem establishing a foothold for his dynasty in Northern India.

Barbur was very smart... and established the custom of marrying into the major religious groups... as a means of 'currying' favour with the major population groups. Barbur was a Muslim... but made a Hindi wife his favourite. As well as a Muslim wife... he took a third wife from the Catholic faith... acknowledging the power of the East India Company in the Bombay region. This practice was continued by his descendants.

The Princely States refused to consolidate into an effective opposing force... so the biggest risks faced by the Moghul rulers was from Moghul relatives... palace intrigue... sons killing fathers... all of that exciting uncertainty.

Barbur delivered a successor (Humayum) who was a dud... at least at the beginning of his rule. He was overthrown by other family members... but managed to regain the throne to die in state... and have a marvellous Mausoleum constructed in Delhi... not that he deserved it. I only mention it because it is one of the 'must see' sites in Delhi.

The Moghuls were the Romans of India. They applied a demanding... but fair... taxation system on the agricultural based economy... and used the revenue to build magnificent courts and palaces. Unlike the Romans, they seem to have spent little effort in benefiting the people of low-birth. That is why the Romans remain the premier conquerors of all time... let's hear it for the Romans! Hip hip... Oh forget it.

Let's skip a couple of generation until we come to Shah Jehan (1627)... under him, Mughal art and architecture reached their zenith; constructed the Taj Mahal, Jama Masjid, Red Fort, Jahangir mausoleum, and Shalimar Gardens in Lahore. He was deposed by his son Aurangzeb.

While India was at the pinnacle of Moghuls sophistication... European peasants were not faring very well... famines, hypothermia, bread riots, and the rise of despotic leaders brutalizing an increasingly despirited peasantry. In the late seventeenth century, agriculture had dropped off so dramatically, "Alpine villagers lived on bread made from ground nutshells mixed with barley and oat flour."

Historian Wolfgang Behringer has linked intensive witch-hunting episodes in Europe to agricultural failures during the Little Ice Age. Epidemics added to the curse of the dark ages in Europe.

While the Moghuls were building an empire... down south, the East India Company was simply plundering... with a bit of rape and pillage thrown in to spice things up. Those of you wanting to defend British ethics can attempt to distinguish British actions from those of the East India Company behaviour. But, there is no doubt that Britain benefitted from the bad behaviour of the Company. Even when Britain took responsibility for Indian involvement... things did not improve greatly. We, in Australia, sometimes think we were poorly treated by our colonial matters. We got it pretty easy compared to what the Indians had to put up with.

Eventually, the Hindi forces organised themselves sufficiently to persuade the Moghuls to leave... which offered the British an ideal opportunity to take over... without too much messy military action. So started the saddest period of Indian history. While the Moghuls simplified Indian politics from 500 Princely states into 28 states.... British... perhaps inadvertently... consolidated India into one nation. That is to their credit. But the riches of Victorian Britian were funded to a very large extent... from the exploitation of India.

One final word on the Moghuls... they introduced Persian art and culture to India... they brought religious tolerance... they brought grandeur that showed India what it could become.
They did some good... probably more good than the British did in their 200 years of (attempted) rule.