The British Empire
In Our Time
00:00
The Importance of Culture in Early Imperial History
I think that what you see in India is a pattern that you see in a lot of the European empires, which is the dreaded man on the spot problem. And Clive, I suppose, partly through competitiveness with the French and partly because of his scheming with the Indians, kind of lands the British with an empire in India. Was there a sense in these early days for all of you, really, that there was a sense of cultural superiority? We seem to think that there was in the French and Spanish versions of early imperial history. There's absolutely no question that cultural notions of cultural superiority come into it. But then there is the idea of the noble savage sort of knocking around. Well
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