British India

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by aneeshm
When the British arrived, India was in total shambles. No unity, no consolidation, no stability, no nothing.

That is why they got a foothold in the first place.

when the british (english) arrived, and more than a century before when the portuguese first appeared, india was simply a geographical term. india wasn't a shambles, because india wasn't india. indian the national identity and the idea of india as a country came about much later under the raj.

there may well have been some cultural and religious similarities over wide areas, but as lord shiva rightly points out, this is no different than medieval europe. in the 12th century a clergyman from inverness could have made himself understood in palermo, but this is not evidence for the existence of a unified culture in scotland and sicily.