The largest Asian cultures are the Chinese and Indian cultures and because the English did not rule China, the impact was largely on Indian culture. The British studied Indian culture and over a period slowly gained power over larger areas, adopting many words from local languages as I have stated in a previous post.
But as they really could not bring enough English people to stay in the colonies , they trained a class of Indian people to administer territories and collect taxes to run the same. These people were trained in English , and became exposed to many English ideas that affected their culture.
It was from among these that the first Indian social reformers, like Raja Rammohan Roy and others were drawn. Ideas like Democracy, Equality were unheard of in India, long used to an unequal Caste based society. The British passed laws and implemented the abolition of Sati, a disgusting practice, where widows were burnt on the funeral pyre of their husbands.
Many of India's freedom fighters were lawyers who understood the import of British law and fought for freedoms enshrined in it .
But as they really could not bring enough English people to stay in the colonies , they trained a class of Indian people to administer territories and collect taxes to run the same. These people were trained in English , and became exposed to many English ideas that affected their culture.
It was from among these that the first Indian social reformers, like Raja Rammohan Roy and others were drawn. Ideas like Democracy, Equality were unheard of in India, long used to an unequal Caste based society. The British passed laws and implemented the abolition of Sati, a disgusting practice, where widows were burnt on the funeral pyre of their husbands.
Many of India's freedom fighters were lawyers who understood the import of British law and fought for freedoms enshrined in it .
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