In the medieval era travel and communication were slow enough that being behind on technology wasn't too bad because there was time to catch up before someone conquered you. In the modern era that was no longer the case. If you've ever played a historical strategy game you know what I'm talking about.
Additionally India and China were the wealthiest regions of the pre-industrial world. There's a reason Europeans went there instead of them going to Europe. They had things Europeans wanted, rather than the other way around.
India was already conquered by the Moguls by the time the British got there, so I guess they had to consolidate their own colonisation before looking to extend.
I mean maybe you could say the industrial revolution could only have happened in Britain, but that's awfully hard to prove. It also wasn't a pre-cursor to a lot of the empire.
Technologies usually aren't invented in the same place at the same time.
Where and when this happens are often accidents or confluences of history and geography.
https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-indus... makes a very good argument that the Industrial Revolution could only have begun in England. (EDIT: I wrote "Europe" earlier)
In the medieval era travel and communication were slow enough that being behind on technology wasn't too bad because there was time to catch up before someone conquered you. In the modern era that was no longer the case. If you've ever played a historical strategy game you know what I'm talking about.
Additionally India and China were the wealthiest regions of the pre-industrial world. There's a reason Europeans went there instead of them going to Europe. They had things Europeans wanted, rather than the other way around.
India was already conquered by the Moguls by the time the British got there, so I guess they had to consolidate their own colonisation before looking to extend.
I mean maybe you could say the industrial revolution could only have happened in Britain, but that's awfully hard to prove. It also wasn't a pre-cursor to a lot of the empire.