The Unmaking of India: How the British Impoverished the World’s Richest Country 

Thanks for watching everyone! Also, a quick error-correction: in the video, I mention the number is $43 trillion. Patnaik has estimated the true number at $45 trillion. Of course, there is much scholarly debate on this matter.

The sad part is the most of the British people don't want to accept this fact

This reminds me of a quote I read a little while ago. ‘Studying history will sometimes disturb you. Studying history will sometimes upset you. Studying history will sometimes make you furious. If studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, you probably aren’t studying history.’

Its crazy that Indians are still alive and thriving. For every Indian alive it is crazy to think what their forefathers had to go through for it to be possible for them to be alive.

I cried watching this, my grandfather was born during colonial rule and told me how as a kid he experienced extreme impoverishment, his father(my grandpa) was a weaver and because of the brits he left weaving(because he was trapped in debt and it took everything to repay it)and became a cultivator, they had to pay exorbitantly high taxes and at one time they had to sell all jewelleries and valuables they had to pay taxes, entire gangetic plain region became the poorest region of India after goras left it.

Growing up in England, it's amazing to see the differences between what we're taught in school about the industrial revolution and the shocking reality of where the money and raw materials came from.

The fact that yesterday India arrived to the moon first than the UK is incredible, congratulations from Mexico 🇲🇽🤝🏻🇮🇳 the future is bright

Nigerian here, and totally not hating on a generation that wasn't involved in the crippling acts perpetrated by their predecessors. Hopefully India and all the other countries that were brutalized by the Great powers of old can recover from all the inhumane treatments they received. Thank you for spreading the awareness ❤

As an Indian who's forefathers were brought to South Africa by the British in 1860 to work on the sugar cane Fields this truly makes me sad, angry and all other emotion's

To all the fello Indians here, remeber this, and I've always said: "we are not developing, we are recovering". the center of the economic earth.

And when Churchill was informed about the devastation of the famine, his one comment was : " How come Gandhi is not dead yet?" He wrote this in the margins of the report on the famine. Excellent report. Thank you.

Fun Fact: British left India kinda "willingly" because *India no longer had any value* and War struck Britain was losing more on it.

Geuinly hope India can recover and become even richer than before, I'm british and have known quite a few Indian people they are kind and don't hold a grudge which i appreciate, big respect to there country!

The famine was a result of the British forcing Indian farmers to grow cash crops such as hemp, cotton tobacco indigo ink tea and so and not edible food crops. The lack of food crop production was a result of the heavy handed taxation. Farmers could not generate enough revenue by selling food crops and had to cultivate cash crops to pay the draconian taxes.

It's heartbreaking to see my country was robbed for centuries like this

F.J. Shore who died at the age of 37 was one of the brave voices of the East India Company who was openly critical of the company Raj. He published under the pen name “A friend to India” in the India gazettte in my original hometown of Calcutta (now Kolkata).

As a British Person, its Strange how we were never taught this in school history

It's brutal. The French also forced Vietnamese farmers to grow cash crops, which led to a shortage of food and the deaths of an estimated 2 million people.

This channel know more about India than most Indians. Its monumental suffering endured by our people at the hands of British

Looting over 43trillions dollars is not joke...😢as a indain...we are facing in this generation ..that effect..done by british raj..

I had no idea that the Brits had done this to India. Thank you for the edification.

Thanks! The British do not teach this in schools nor they have the humility to acknowledge the crimes they did. This is an eye-opener for young Brits.

As an American who has lived and traveled throughout India, I have observed that Indians are bright, enterprising, skilled, and hardworking people. Now, if they can only get past their infighting and clean up the political corruption, it will just be a matter of time before they're on top again. ❤

As an Indian I can assure you that this video does give you a brief idea of what British was doing here but the real thing was even more cruel. We hear stories from our grandparents. If you read the policies introduced by the British during that period then you would bite your nails in anger.

The Hindus and Sikhs have endured and persevered so much.

As someone from Ireland, it’s difficult to think of the obscene wealth of London, the British royal family, and aristocracy gained directly or indirectly from the exploitation of other countries and not feel resentful at times, especially as so many of these countries are still recovering from British invasion while many Britons continue to benefit.

This video made me tear up imagining what my forefathers would have gone through. I’m proud to be an Indian. India is a rising Phoenix from ashes. We will rise back to the top and I will see it in my lifetime.

Many people in India love the architecture and beauty of London and many Indian students want to study in Cambridge and Oxford but they should think that it is made bigger because of money from India.Otherwise Britishers were beggers

India will become a super power again, it’s just matter of time.

Philippines will always be a friend with India ❤️ 🇵🇭🇮🇳

I grew up in Canada. Im speechless in regards to this video. India is covered a multiple points in our school curriculum, and the gist of what we're taught is "India conducted peaceful protests against the British under mahatma ghandi, and as a result the British pulled out, taking all of their industry with them which resulted in the impoverishment of the Indian people, taking decades to very slowly get a semblance of what they once had". There is absolutely nothing about the mass planned genocide, crippling taxes, and overly aggressive extraction of resources to the point of when they had pulled what little industry was left, was simply the tip of the iceberg

And the Queen carries the biggest diamond in her crown stolen from India.

Love Indias rich history and hopefully rich future 😊 Love from Austria

Bharat is not just country is a civilization 🇮🇳 I’m so happy for this nation, god bless you from Mexico 🇲🇽…Viva bharat

I'm not Indian and I was seething through my teeth watching this video!!! Just pure evil... I hope the Indian people will heal and rise again with love and peace

as a filipino whos been colonized by spanish,american and japanese, we felt great sympathy to what happened in India. this is much worse for just 200 years compared to Philippines’ over 400 years

These Pirates got the Chinese addicted to Opium

The worst part is the amount of effort that so many British put into maintaining the lie that India was always like that. They have the audacity to imply the Indians should be grateful.

As someone who lives in England as of now, its shocking to see how the country just shoves its past under the rug

That was a great video. Educational and interesting on a tough subject. Liked and subscribed by way of thanks. Keep up the good work.

I think the Irish are going to agree with me on this one. During the British rule, a total of 31 famines struck the 'Indians'. The most detrimental was the Great Famine of Bengal (1943). Almost 4 million people died in that famine. There were more dead bodies than there were people alive, and those who were alive looked like a living skeleton. This was the case of Bengalis. The Prime Minister of the UK denied that it was a the fault of the British, instead he blamed the Indians for all the mishap and called Indian rascals. Churchill, till his last breath, denied that the adversity was a product of the misadministration.

Last year, we were in the observation deck of the Top of the World building at New York City, where we met an old British couple. Casually, we started chatting. we came to know that both of them worked as government officials in an island which was a British colony until recently, and then they asked about us, we said we are from India. They specifically wanted to know which part of India, we said Bengal and it seems they know about the place and they exclaimed. After these small chats, just before leaving, the old man said, "I would like to apologize on behalf of my country for what we did to India" There was genuine apology in his eyes, and we were spell bound...we did not know how to react, because these is something we never expected to ever happen to us. I could just manage to say, "Thank you, I appreciate". But the impact of what just happened within a few minutes is beyond my capacity to express! So, yes, even they know what they did, just that there are very few people like that old man who has the courage to accept it.

As an Indian, this brought tears to my eyes. Many unspeakable things were done, no doubt! But our spirit has not and can not be broken.

Thanks for the concise, well researched and well structured presentation.

KARMA NEVER FORGIVES ANYONE

In British primary schools they like to teach about post-Roman Britain and the Tudors, and in Secondary school it's pretty much all about WWI and WW2 with strict focus on Europe. The Colonial Era is skipped out completely.

As a Sri Lankan, I can reasonably say that it is a matter of time that India regains its former glory and this time.... there is no turning back.

This is disgusting. I hope India can recover from the disgrace that has been imposed by the greedy british and become once again a global superpower. Much love from Brazil 🇧🇷❤️🇮🇳

Only a few hundred families in London made enormous fortunes out of India where everyone else were made impoverished…….and the same families exploit the British people today !!

I'm not Indian, but when I hear one saying that colonization had good sides it boils my blood - this video should be mandatory for students both in India (so they stop saying stupid things) and in UK - to once and for all prove Brits where "their" wealth came from

India should Forgive but never forget, our ancestors held this land for 5000 years and our culture is still living and it’s the duty of current generation of Indians to make sure the culture and country can rise again.

Thanks for the video, so proud 👏 of India.

Love ur videos..keep making more🙏🏻👍🏻👍🏻Make one comparison before and after Mughal empire on various aspects like economy, manufacturing, cultural etc

This makes me truly so sad. My Nanna was born in India in 1934 to a British soldier who met her mother (my great grandmother) as a catholic Indian. They all returned to England together to have a better life, which is why I was eventually born in England. I visited India in 2019 after my Nanna passed away and it was like going home in so many ways. Even now it is a beautiful country with the kindest people you could possibly meet. I wish one day India will fully thrive once again 🙏

Western media are saying that Indians should learn more about holocaust due to recent Bollywood controversy. But I bet they will not even accept about this genocide in India. Even I did not know till now that soo people died in my country under their rule. 😞

As an Indonesian myself, we do lost a lot from VOC and Dutch Colonization, even we colonized two times longer than India. But we are recovering together my brothers and sisters. The moment when i saw the news that you guys landing on the moon for the first time, i'm tearing feel proud of y'all 🥺 Warm greetings from Indonesia 🙌🏼 🇮🇩🤝🇮🇳

The fact that breaks me is that when they migrated to the UK in 1970’s , they were greeted with upmost hostility and racism

This video literally made me cry. I have heard stories of my forefathers eating in gold and silver plates but when british Left india our family didn't even had a roof on their heads

I always found it ironically hysterical during WW2 how Britain was able to showcase themselves as defenders of the free world, fighting against the racist tyranny of Nazi Germany. 🤣🤣😂

It's sad but okay, give a us another 50 years or so, we'll rebuild our country. The challenge is on

As a Indian I'm happy to see that there are no Indian comments of people trying to get useless likes by trying to get sympathy 🙄🙄 I mean like....on every video where a person from another country make a video on a topic related to India....their comment section is always full of Indian people's comments and I never get to know what actually the viewers ( other than Indians) think about that particular topic.... It's irritating for me😬😬. ❤love from India 🇮🇳🪷

There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India - as horrible as it may have been - was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained for so long - the story goes - was a gesture of Britain’s benevolence. New research by the renowned economist Utsa Patnaik - just published by Columbia University Press - deals a crushing blow to this narrative. Drawing on nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade, Patnaik calculated that Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938. It’s a staggering sum. For perspective, $45 trillion is 17 times more than the total annual gross domestic product of the United Kingdom today. How did this come about? It happened through the trade system. Prior to the colonial period, Britain bought goods like textiles and rice from Indian producers and paid for them in the normal way - mostly with silver - as they did with any other country. But something changed in 1765, shortly after the East India Company took control of the subcontinent and established a monopoly over Indian trade. Here’s how it worked. The East India Company began collecting taxes in India, and then cleverly used a portion of those revenues (about a third) to fund the purchase of Indian goods for British use. In other words, instead of paying for Indian goods out of their own pocket, British traders acquired them for free, “buying” from peasants and weavers using money that had just been taken from them. It was a scam - theft on a grand scale. Yet most Indians were unaware of what was going on because the agent who collected the taxes was not the same as the one who showed up to buy their goods. Had it been the same person, they surely would have smelled a rat. Some of the stolen goods were consumed in Britain, and the rest were re-exported elsewhere. The re-export system allowed Britain to finance a flow of imports from Europe, including strategic materials like iron, tar and timber, which were essential to Britain’s industrialisation. Indeed, the Industrial Revolution depended in large part on this systematic theft from India. On top of this, the British were able to sell the stolen goods to other countries for much more than they “bought” them for in the first place, pocketing not only 100 percent of the original value of the goods but also the markup. After the British Raj took over in 1858, colonisers added a special new twist to the tax-and-buy system. As the East India Company’s monopoly broke down, Indian producers were allowed to export their goods directly to other countries. But Britain made sure that the payments for those goods nonetheless ended up in London. How did this work? Basically, anyone who wanted to buy goods from India would do so using special Council Bills - a unique paper currency issued only by the British Crown. And the only way to get those bills was to buy them from London with gold or silver. So traders would pay London in gold to get the bills, and then use the bills to pay Indian producers. When Indians cashed the bills in at the local colonial office, they were “paid” in rupees out of tax revenues - money that had just been collected from them. So, once again, they were not in fact paid at all; they were defrauded. Meanwhile, London ended up with all of the gold and silver that should have gone directly to the Indians in exchange for their exports. This corrupt system meant that even while India was running an impressive trade surplus with the rest of the world - a surplus that lasted for three decades in the early 20th century - it showed up as a deficit in the national accounts because the real income from India’s exports was appropriated in its entirety by Britain. Some point to this fictional “deficit” as evidence that India was a liability to Britain. But exactly the opposite is true. Britain intercepted enormous quantities of income that rightly belonged to Indian producers. India was the goose that laid the golden egg. Meanwhile, the “deficit” meant that India had no option but to borrow from Britain to finance its imports. So the entire Indian population was forced into completely unnecessary debt to their colonial overlords, further cementing British control. Britain used the windfall from this fraudulent system to fuel the engines of imperial violence - funding the invasion of China in the 1840s and the suppression of the Indian Rebellion in 1857. And this was on top of what the Crown took directly from Indian taxpayers to pay for its wars. As Patnaik points out, “the cost of all Britain’s wars of conquest outside Indian borders were charged always wholly or mainly to Indian revenues.” And that’s not all. Britain used this flow of tribute from India to finance the expansion of capitalism in Europe and regions of European settlement, like Canada and Australia. So not only the industrialisation of Britain but also the industrialisation of much of the Western world was facilitated by extraction from the colonies. Patnaik identifies four distinct economic periods in colonial India from 1765 to 1938, calculates the extraction for each, and then compounds at a modest rate of interest (about 5 percent, which is lower than the market rate) from the middle of each period to the present. Adding it all up, she finds that the total drain amounts to $44.6 trillion. This figure is conservative, she says, and does not include the debts that Britain imposed on India during the Raj. These are eye-watering sums. But the true costs of this drain cannot be calculated. If India had been able to invest its own tax revenues and foreign exchange earnings in development - as Japan did - there’s no telling how history might have turned out differently. India could very well have become an economic powerhouse. Centuries of poverty and suffering could have been prevented. All of this is a sobering antidote to the rosy narrative promoted by certain powerful voices in Britain. The conservative historian Niall Ferguson has claimed that British rule helped “develop” India. While he was prime minister, David Cameron asserted that British rule was a net help to India. This narrative has found considerable traction in the popular imagination: according to a 2014 YouGov poll, 50 percent of people in Britain believe that colonialism was beneficial to the colonies. Yet during the entire 200-year history of British rule in India, there was almost no increase in per capita income. In fact, during the last half of the 19th century - the heyday of British intervention - income in India collapsed by half. The average life expectancy of Indians dropped by a fifth from 1870 to 1920. Tens of millions died needlessly of policy-induced famine. Britain didn’t develop India. Quite the contrary - as Patnaik’s work makes clear - India developed Britain. What does this require of Britain today? An apology? Absolutely. Reparations? Perhaps - although there is not enough money in all of Britain to cover the sums that Patnaik identifies. In the meantime, we can start by setting the story straight. We need to recognise that Britain retained control of India not out of benevolence but for the sake of plunder and that Britain’s industrial rise didn’t emerge sui generis from the steam engine and strong institutions, as our schoolbooks would have it, but depended on violent theft from other lands and other peoples.

Thanks for making this well researched video. It might interest your viewers to know that UK barely teaches about colonialism in its schools even today. 10th grade students dont learn even a single paragraph about it.

I never knew about India being so successful back in history 😮

Unbelievable that this was managed by the British. Meanwhile today they are struggling with mange and hold together there own Little Island.

As an Indian, this made me so angry and sad. Life for modern Indians is unbelievably unfair and cruel.

Watching this on Indian independence day and me being an Indian feel bad for all my ancestors who suffered British oppression 😭

As an Indian this video make me very angry and sad. We will be no 1 again till 2050 so that no country can do this to another. And everyone born on earth can live in peace and harmony

We the people of India.....💪

Despite the staggering $45 trillion looted by the British 🇬🇧, India's unwavering spirit has propelled its economy to reach $3 trillion today. Remarkably, 🇮🇳India proudly secures its place among the top 5 global economies by GDP. This remarkable journey showcases India's resilience and unyielding determination to rise above adversity.

Unbelievable. Thank you for creating and sharing vital history. Shameful how many people dont know and dont care

When the queen died I saw a comment by an indian mentioning about this history and the brits replied and justified this saying "you got robbed becasue you couldnt defend yourself". I was shocked that they still believe it was okay.

Thanks As an Indian I am shocked that the history which we were tought as a kid and history which each and every kid in Indian Street knows is not known to the world in its original version !!! Its shocking to see now a days, when Britishers keep their spirit high thinking they have done good by colonising country . This video is doing justice to the country after seventy six years of independence. World is amazing place 🙏

The Indian subcontinent will rise again, stronger than ever. We still have the blood of those brilliant people in our veins. I'm a Bangladeshi and I believe in the resurrection of the glory in this region.

Here's where this falls apart: India wasn't a country before the British. It was a tangle of separate kingdoms, many often at war with each other. God knows I would never defend the Brits but it is what it is. Also Britain's version of India included today's Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

I come from Bangladesh part of Bengal before colonisation and richest state of India, now one of the poorest countries on earth, the poverty is so unimaginable. I am totally disgusted how my ancestors suffered from colonisation.

Mughals didn’t control the entire Indian subcontinent before the British. A significant portion belonged to the Maratha empire.

I grew up with my grandparents, hearing first hand stories of the times towards the end of the british rule in india. My grandfather's elder brother had slapped his british boss because he verbally abused his staff saying "bloody natives" so he had to run away from his district (now Jessore, Bangladesh) to now India as he would be arrested if he visited. My grandfather had to look after his brother's family and bring them to the Indian side of the border during partition of Bengal. I listened to how my ancestors secretly listened to Netajis radio transmission to masses and engaged in freedom movements. I heard the horrible first hand stories of the times between 20-40s so I do not stand by anyone saying or believing the British did good for us

We are still thriving claiming what is ours maybe one thing at a time. Reclaiming all that was taken from us, rebuilding whatever was destroyed from our holy land, bringing our ancient marvels, our awesome ancient and Vedic knowledge to the world stage. It will take time to rebuild the Great Bharat once again.But we are working on it. Thankyou for this video. As I always say "long live the agreat Bharat"

This is excellent. Any chance you can add transcript and links to research? I can't believe I never knew much of this.

Keep these videos coming, The day is near where we will see India in its past glory. These videos will help heal people from the colonial mindset which is still a reality. We need to stick and work together regardless of our cast, religion or any deference and that dream will be a reality soon. Jai Hind

As a British person I find it absolutely shameful what we did to India. I can only hope for a future free from colonialism and racism and that we will be forgiven for all the terrible things we did.

Im in shock. Disgusting. It's ridiculous how people can stoop down this low. Thank you for the video. Great break down, visuals and narration. Wonderful work!

Thank you for this interesting video! But i must say, your use of the word "industrial" in the beginning of the video is accurate. You're talking about manufacturing, not industry

My blood boils on hearing about the atrocities inflicted upon my ancestors! And Britain can't even seem to acknowledge the fact that they did something wrong

It's crazy how even in this comment section people excuse or downplay what the British did. Although there's not a lot to be proud of as a German, I think one thing we did really well was actually educating the further generations about the shit we did. This is a big part of why to this day every person who tries to downplay our history immediately gets called out.

The level of evil is astonishing. Even we in Europe who never had power were used like that, but India is truly something else entirely. The whole history regarding the west’s exploitation of India and China is horrific and should be condemned by all countries, including those who caused them.

blessed the hands of the artist who done a big part in illustrating history!

Not just for India and the entire subcontinent, but for the unheard (i.e. ignored) voices of the Global South - Thank you.

I hope that India continues to flourish over the next few decades and finds its place as a preeminent economy and power once again; India is a natural ally for the United States. I was ignorant to the 35 million deaths caused by colonial rule -- this fact shocked me. I will continue to read about India to understand its history.

YOU'VE GOT TO DO THIS FOR A VIDEO ON ANCIENT EGYPT WEALTH and how is was divided also! SUBBED BTW LOVE THE CONTENT!! MAKE MORE VIDEOS!

Along with Nazi atrocities, crimes committd by colonial rulers should be taught in all the countries including former colonial powers so that current generation is aware of history and take lessons to evolve as better human beings and societies.

I once got chatting to a British Indian cab driver and he asked me what book I was reading (it was in my hand). I told him it was a biography on Churchill, but quickly added that I did not defend the atrocities he was responsible for in India. He laughed and told me that I need not worry and that India was the wonderful place it was thanks to the British. I was absolutely shocked. I couldn’t fathom that he genuinely believed that. In hindsight, I wish I had corrected him, but I just changed the subject. Made me feel really sad actually!

As someone who’s country is also a subjected to Dutch and British colonialism, I can completely relate to our Indian brothers plight.

I spent more than two years in India over the past 8 years travelling all over india. I have asked this question to many educated Indian people ( speaks very good English). Was the consequences of British colonial rule of India a good or bad impact on today's India. Everybody said it was positive to greater or lesser extent. Especially young Hindu men. India prior to British arrival were mostly ruled by the Mughals who are Muslim ( thier empire was in decay though) Ask most Hindus what they like to revert back to the old status quo ( I think the answer would be No). Yes the British exploited and ransacked the country all empires do. The only exception is the British left a working infrastructure, railways, courts, parliament, democracy ( of sorts) functional army, education system etc etc. Compare that to the Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Belgium German and Dutch colonies??. Don't get me wrong, the British Empire was racist empire, but most people alive today never experienced it. So ask yourself the same question truthfully not politically. Did the British leave you the tools to enable you ( India) today to become such and industrial power you are now. Hmmmmm. It's easy for all of us to try to be original and look back at history and hold our hands up and "how terrible". When the same things are happening today just different players China, US, Russia,

Best and honest video. Really admire.

I am a South African Indian. My grandparents left India for a better life here in SA. They were then subjected to apartheid. Indian people all over the world are still experiencing the effects of British rule generations later yet we are still looked down on in society because we are still poor.

As a non Indian, I shed tears while watching this 😞😞😞😞😞

Don't expect forgiveness from us, cause nothing is forgotten everything will be paid But thanks for speaking and sharing the truth

The UK can no longer exploit as a colonial power, they had their day in the sun and now it is India’s turn but not as a colonial power but as a manufacturing, scientific, business and technological powerhouse! Thanks to the Brits, India already has an advantage of many young English speaking, the global language of international trade & business, leaders in healthcare and education, Indians already are the top leaders in the UK AND USA! The key is valuing strong families, old world values and the highest education! Viva India!!! 🇮🇳 Acknowledge the exploitative colonial period, yes! Expose it but Press on! Look ahead! It’s YOUR time to lead!!!