I have
emphasized in my prior articles the profound consequences of the Ottoman
Turks’ conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453. It cut off the
land trade of silk, porcelain and spices from China and India to Europe
via Venice which had become a thriving trade center. Some of the
Renaissance artwork of present day Italy was financed by the rich dukes
and doges from that money. Pepper was essential to preserve meat and
make bad meat palatable and edible in an era without refrigeration.
Prince Henry, the navigator (of Portugal) had laid the foundations for
long sea travels in distant territories. More than a century earlier, a
Chinese fleet under a (castrated) admiral had successfully sailed the
Pacific and Indian oceans, as the Chinese had designed the first
magnetic compass. A xenophobic and ignorant Chinese Emperor scrapped the
fleet due to budget constraints and extravagant other expenditure. The
parallels to the current retarded boy emperor of America are eerily
parallel.
Portuguese ships used wind and sails and generally took a path parallel
to the West African coast, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and navigated
parallel to the East African coastline to reach the eastern ports of
South India. It was a journey of months, fraught with hazards and in
need for much victualing. It was essential to have ports of call on the
way to obtain fresh meat and water. Scurvy was the scourge of sailors
unable to eat fresh fruit. Later the British discovered that eating
limes prevented scurvy and this is why the nickname for British sailors
is “Limeys” even today. The above needs are one factor that led the
Portuguese to colonize Angola on the West African coast and Mozambique
on the East African coast. Portuguese sailors after a six month voyage
to India needed some time for rest and recreation before undertaking a
return six month journey and thus Goa, Bombay, Daman and Diu were
conquered and colonized. There were Portuguese enclaves in Mombasa and
Ceylon. The Dutch in similar fashion colonized South Africa and Molucca
(ultimately all Indonesia).
The idiot rulers of India, (Islamic conquerors (by land) in western
India and Hindu rulers of South India involved in internecine warfare
and rivalry) were ignorant of maritime strategies and too busy living in
extravagant splendor to nip this invasion in the bud. The American
Indians of Massachusetts probably had similar regrets for not driving
off the Pilgrims of the Mayflower. Later the Mughal Empire paid tribute
to Portuguese pirates in the Indian Ocean to buy safety for Indian sea
passengers going for Haj. The foolish practice of government subsidies
for Haj still prevails under the so called secular Congress and Hindutva
BJP (both are crooked and corrupt hypocrites) today.
The next reason for colonization was the Industrial Revolution.
Netherlands was the greatest trading nation and had extensive tonnage of
shipping. Britain broke all patent laws, bribed Dutch artisans to learn
technology and paid bounty to make them move to Britain. Now it is the
same kind of thief, America talk about TRIP (patents for intellectual
property) and abolition of tariffs. “Sau sau choohe khaa ke billi haj
ko chali”. Those interested should read Ha-Joon Chang’s books,
“Kicking away the ladder” and “Bad Samaritans”.
The taming of
steam power in Britain greatly increased productivity. Surplus goods
left over after saturation of the domestic market had to be sold abroad.
The age of mercantilism had begun. Britain sailed for the Indies for
trade but there was no market for Britain’s coarse wool and linen there.
So the East India Company went into the business of tax collection,
renting armies, overthrowing governments and ultimately governing.
Hungry and ignorant Indians enlisted in the army of the East India
Company to fight against their own people. Then the Company started
renting this army to the highest bidder for engineering regime
overthrow. This gave such rich pickings that the Company now went
looking for potential coup plotters to rent the Indian soldiers. After a
while the doddering, corrupt, weak and extravagant Mughal Emperor
desperately in need of money, cut out the thieving middlemen and gave
the East India Company, the Diwani of Bengal. There was no dearth of
greedy traitors in India.
A rich Indian merchant known as Jagat Seth financed the Company. He was
the first venture capitalist and got his just desserts when the Company
subsequently sentenced him to death. We Indians are uniquely stupid and
greedy, and probably the only nationals to enlist in a foreign army to
help them conquer and oppress our own nation. So much for morality,
religion and patriotism. The current UPA government is dying to be
America’s Asian “chaprasi, chamchaa and jamadaar”
(servant, sycophant and deputy enforcer) by signing a humiliating
civilian nuclear deal. Nothing has changed in a thousand years. Bombay
was given in dowry by the Portuguese to King Charles, the second, of
Britain and they built forts in Madras and Calcutta and the French in
Pondicherry. Industrializing America send Commodore Perry’s fleet to
forcibly open Japan to trade.
Thus India was de-industrialized and colonized to become a supplier of
raw cotton and a dumping ground for inferior but cheaper British
textiles. It was converted to be an opium producer to serve the drug
trafficking needs of the Western drug cartel to make China a nation of
addicts, to balance British imports of tea, silk and porcelain (also
called China). Some time later Britain and the West converted their
sailing ships to steamships using coal. There was a need for coaling
stations to replenish the coal supply (before the Suez and Panama Canals
were Built) and Britain took over Aden, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands
etc., the French colonized West Africa, Djibouti; Germans East and
Southwest Africa. Later on the steamships were converted to run on oil
and that is why Britain took control of Iran, Iraq, Burma etc., and even
today America attacked Iraq, interferes in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Sudan, Gulf States, Afghanistan, West
Africa and wants an independent Kosovo to build a oil and gas pipelines.
Some of the above has been documented in detail in the trilogy (three
books) of Chalmers Johnson and articles by Julian DiSantellis at
www.atimes.com. The
former has explained the over 700 military bases of America, some called
lily-pads and the latter explains coaling stations, airbases and
refueling planes (Boeing vs. Northrop & EADS). Western powers after WW1
have used aerial bombardment to suppress independence movements (France
bombing Damascus in Syria, Britain bombing Iraq when both were under a
League of Nations mandate, British bombing the Mau Mau in Kenya in the
fifties and Malaysian freedom fighters after that, Israel bombing
Palestinians and Lebanese presently and America bombing Vietnam,
Cambodia & Laos in the sixties and seventies and Iraqis today). This is
why Britain fought the Falklands war, retained Diego Garcia, now leased
to America, China is opting for a string of pearls on Myanmar’s and
Bangladesh’s coast and Gwadar in Pakistan and India wants a base in
Tajikistan, listening posts in Mauritius and Mozambique and overlooks
the faulty political policies of Maldives and Sri Lanka. Big long range
fighters, re-fueling jets and aircraft carriers help to project power
further and better.
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