India

“Of the East India Breed …”: The First South Asians in British North America

by Brinda Charry

The known records of the first south Asian people in Virginia are not voluminous, but they direct our attention to the complexities of racial identity in early America and the global networks of trade and labor that would make the British Empire. 

Censoring History Education Goes Hand in Hand with Democratic Backsliding

by Julia Boechat Machado and Ruben Zeeman

Regimes in the Philippines, India and Brazil have recently tried to censor the teaching of history in service of their poltical goals and claims to power. The pushback by scholars in these countries should inspire historians in Florida and elsewhere to resist the political censorship of research and teaching. 

VP Menon, the Civil Servant who Held India Together

More than 500 princely states contained 40 percent of the population of British India. Independence depended on convincing their rulers to integrate to the new nation. VP Menon did more than almost anyone else to make that happen. 

75 Years Later, are the Ghosts of India's Partition Fading?

Up to two million people were killed in the violence and forced migration prompted by the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947, warning for the present as nationalist sentiment surges in both countries. 

India's Accidental Missile Launch Underscores Real Risks of Nuclear War

Inherent features of nuclear weapons command and control systems make mistakes inevitable and difficult to reverse; the long history of close calls with accidental nuclear war show the need for disarmament. 

Illusions of empire: Amartya Sen on what British rule really did for India

by Amartya Sen

The prize-winning international economist examines a tricky historical counterfactual: what would contemporary India be like had British colonialism never happened?

India's COVID Crisis Has Roots in its Colonial-Era Tax Structure

by Roderick Matthews

India's COVID crisis is being exacerbated by a health system that uses an anemic 3.5% of GDP. Continuities from the era of the British Raj, when powerful rural landowners went untaxed, are a big part of the problem. 

In the Battle over India’s History, Hindu Nationalists Square off Against a Respected Historian

Romila Thapar's studies of the complexities of religion and ethnicity in India's history have made her a target for the nation's ruling right-wing ethnonationalist government. 

The Terrible Cost of Presidential Racism

by Gary Bass

The emotional displays of prejudice revealed by newly uncensored White House tapes involving Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger help to explain a foreign policy debacle. 

Historians blast BBC for ‘unbalanced’ News At Ten report on Churchill

Historians have criticised a BBC News report on Tuesday about Churchill’s role in the Bengal Famine, which killed three million people in 1943 and 1944. The report arguably blamed Churchill's racism without considering other material factors that lead to 3 million deaths. 

Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt (Review)

An attack by the pirate Henry Every on a ship owned by the Grand Mughal of India jeopardized the toehold the British East India Company had gained in India. The British government's response helped launch imperial rule. 

Gandhi’s Killer Evokes Admiration as Never Before

As Hindu nationalism continues its march across India, a cult of personality is rising around Nathuram Godse, the Hindu extremist who killed Gandhi.

As India’s Constitution Turns 70, Opposing Sides Fight to Claim Its Author as One of Their Own

But 70 years after the Indian constitution came into force, left-wing protesters aren’t the only group claiming to be the ideological heirs to Ambedkar. 

‘To India I come as a pilgrim’: Martin Luther King Jr.’s remarkable trip to honor his hero

by Gillian Brockell

King first learned about Gandhi as a seminary student in 1949, just a year after Gandhi had been assassinated. He soon wrote about Gandhi in his schoolwork as a person who “greatly reveal[s] the working of the Spirit of God.”

Indian police detain historian Guha at protest against citizenship law

Indian police detained one of the country’s most respected historians and intellectuals, Ramachandra Guha, on Thursday during a demonstration in the southern city of Bengaluru against a new citizenship law based on religion.

Muslims Should Reject Indian Supreme Court's Land Offer

by B. Z. Khasru

In a mockery of justice, India's top court gives orthodox Hindus a way to avenge their humiliation under Muslim rule for a thousand years.

Modi's 'two nations' theory roils India

by B.Z. Khasru

By scraping Kashmir's status, the prime minister has taken a highly risky step toward making the misguided dream of the right-wing Hindu extremists come true and shaken up secular India.

When Gandhi’s Salt March Rattled British Colonial Rule

by Evan Andrews

In March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers set off on a brisk 241-mile march to the Arabian Sea town of Dandi to lay Indian claim to the nation's own salt.

How Right-Wing Politics and Hindu Nationalism Became Triumphant in India

by Archana Venkatesh

The roots of nationalists’ politics in India are religious, and those roots run deep.

Hindus-Muslim clash 72 years after Britain left India

by B. Z. Khasru

In light of India's recent decision to annex the Muslim-majority Kashmir state, it's important to understand the region's history.