Ancient History as a Means of Transforming Colonial India in the Late-Eighteenth and Early-Nineteenth Centuries

This article focuses on the studies and discourses of mostly British scholars of the early colonial period belonging to two schools of thought. It shows how the studies of both schools – European orientalism and utilitarianism – were intricately connected to the political development of the emerging British paramountcy over the South Asian sub-continent, as both were looking for means of establishing and/or strengthening colonial rule. Nevertheless, the debate was not just a continuation of discussions in Europe. Whereas the ideas of the European Enlightenment had some influence, the transformation of the Mughal Empire and especially the idea of a decline of Muslim rule offered ample opportunities for understanding the early history of India either as some sort of “Golden Age,” as the orientalists and their indigenous supporters did, or as something static and degenerate, as the utilitarians did, and from which the population of sub-continent had to be saved by colonial rule and colonial values. Fearing the spread of the ideas of the French Revolution, the first group of British scholars sought to persuade the native elites of South Asia to take the lessons of their past for the future development of their homeland. Just as the classicists back in Europe, these scholars were convinced that large-scale explanations of the past could also teach political and moral lessons for the present although it was important to deal with the distant past in an empirical manner. The utilitarians on the other hand believed that India had to be saved from its own depravity through the English language and Western values, which amounted to nothing less than the modern transformation of the true Classical Age.

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Mode of access: Internet.

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Published in 1922 under title: An introduction to the history of history.

Ancient history /

"Suggestions for further study": p. xx-xxviii.

The ancient history of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Medes and Persians, Grecians and Macedonians /

The title pages of vols. I and II are photostat reproductions.

A manual of ancient history, particularly with regard to the constitutions, the commerce, and the colonies, of the states of antiquity.

Mode of access: Internet.

The ancient history of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Grecians and Macedonians ...

Mode of access: Internet.

Ancient history; exhibiting a summary view of the rise, progress, revolutions, decline, and fall, of the states and nations of antiquity.

Mode of access: Internet.

A manual of ancient history, from the earliest times to the fall of the Sassanian empire. Comprising the history of Chaldaea, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Judaea, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Greece, Macedonia, Rome, and Parthia.

Mode of access: Internet.

The ancient history of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Grecians and Macedonians /

Translated from the French.

The ancient history of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes & Persians, Macedonians, and Grecians /

Index for the complete work in vol. 8.

A manual of ancient history : from the remotest times to the overthrow of the Western empire, A.D. 476 /

Includes index.