66
votes
Accepted
Is the photograph "England’s Revenge in India" real, staged, or fake?
It seems to be the painting Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English, a painting by the Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin c. 1884
According to the annotation on Wikipedia:
It ...
- 77.7k
44
votes
Accepted
Where was gunpowder invented/ discovered?
This confusion is A Thing. I actually looked into it a few weeks back.
Its quite likely that ancient Indians were the first people to harvest and make use of saltpeter. We certainly haven't found ...
- 126k
35
votes
Accepted
Why would anyone from Japan be in Northern India in early 1900s?
There would seem to be quite a number of possibilities, including:
Businessmen
Japanese business interests in India were extensive between the two world wars. Putting this together with "In the ...
- 109k
27
votes
Accepted
What's the best way to transcribe 19th century, English, Urdu, Arabic, etc.?
As someone who both has terrible cursive handwriting and has had to muddle through other people's terrible handwriting (mostly colonial American court records) I have a disappointing answer for you. ...
- 1,479
21
votes
Accepted
Is Indus civilization over 8000 years old?
There's a bit of confusion over terms here. The culture that was first excavated at Harrapa, as per the idiom of archeologists, was named "Harrapan" after the first archeological site at ...
- 126k
20
votes
Is the photograph "England’s Revenge in India" real, staged, or fake?
Radio Yerevan reports that: "In principle, yes, the photo is absolutely real. Except, that it isn't a real photo, its name isn't 'England's Revenge in India', and the propaganda book never ...
- 81.3k
20
votes
Accepted
Why didn't invaders of India ever cross into Myanmar and beyond (east)?
The region to east of Bengal is Myanmar. In between them, the Himalayan foothills taper off rather abruptly into the Bay of Bengal. They still form quite a formidable obstacle. Southeast Asia itself ...
- 3,366
20
votes
Why would anyone from Japan be in Northern India in early 1900s?
(Some) Indians, and (some) Japanese share a common religion, Buddhism. This religion was founded in India in the sixth century B. C.,spread over East Asia, and found its way to Japan in the sixth ...
- 105k
16
votes
Accepted
Why did the Portuguese permit an Italian commercial agent to accompany Vasco da Gama on the 4th Portuguese India Armada?
This expedition was financed by the Affaitadi family (they were bankers), of which Matteo de Bergamo was a clerk. It is natural that the investors would ask the da Gama brothers to take one of their ...
- 4,600
14
votes
Accepted
What stopped the British from granting independence to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands?
On 30 June 1947 (one and a half months before the independence of India), there was a discussion in the UK House of Commons about Anglo-Indians and Europeans (alternative link):
Mr. Gammons asked ...
- 1,291
13
votes
Accepted
Did the emperor Ashoka really build hospitals or is that a myth?
Short Answer
The available evidence for hospitals set up on the orders of Ashoka is inconclusive, but several scholars have suggested that it is at least likely that there was some type of hospital, ...
- 109k
13
votes
Accepted
Where in India (exactly) did the train 653 accident happen?
To flesh out the answer from MAGolding.
The linked report in their answer goes into more details on the location of the train find:
The train was heading for Dhanushkodi Station in Tamil Nadu, under ...
- 1,717
12
votes
Accepted
Was Winston Churchill really responsible for the 1943 Bengal famine?
tl;dr
No, he wasn't, although it might be argued that he might have done more, had he been blessed with the gift of 20/20 hindsight (like his modern critics).
Indeed, as the historian Arthur Herman ...
- 77.7k
12
votes
Why didn't Delhi became part of Pakistan?
Because Delhi was deep within majority Hindu territory.
As @MarkC.Wallace pointed out, the partition of India was made along religious lines. Here is a map of pre-partition India by religious ...
- 97.9k
11
votes
What percentage of the British Empire's economy was profits from the opium trade?
There is no doubt that opium and tea formed a "commercial nexus" that became an essential element of the British imperial economy. Although the British government wasn't directly involved in the opium ...
- 77.7k
11
votes
How profitable was India for the British Empire in the 1800s?
By the 1800s, the trade with India wasn't particularly profitable. In fact, control of India wasn't particularly profitable (for the Empire as a whole, as you note, local 'nabobs' made themselves ...
- 20.4k
10
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Asian teams participate in the 1950 World Cup?
Only four Asian teams – Burma, India, Indonesia and the Philippines - entered the 1950 World Cup qualification rounds and these were placed in Group 10 with the top team qualifying for the finals in ...
- 109k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is Lal Bahadur Shastri's death in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, still a mystery?
Background
Lal Bahadur Shastri, India's third prime minister, died in a dacha in Tashkent, shortly after signing a peace agreement with the Pakistani president, Ayub Khan, on 11 January 1966, about ...
- 77.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Where can I find maps and other historical resources / references of Calcutta / Kolkata in the Victorian era?
Maps and Images
There are several sites which have maps of Calcutta around the period you are interested in:
Bengali Cultural Heritage has maps from 1842 to 1910, including several from the 1850s.
...
- 109k
10
votes
Is there a quote that expresses Mill's opposition to Indian democracy?
Yes, he was. The book you're looking for is Considerations on Representative Government.
[A] people must be considered unfit for more than a limited and qualified freedom who will not co-operate ...
- 14.2k
10
votes
Who were Alexander's historians that wrote about Indian social conditions?
It is not Sati alone that is mentioned by Aristobolos, the most significant historian that accompanied Alexander to India:
Few reliable records exist of the practice before the time of the Gupta ...
- 81.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Why did the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and Statute of Westminster (1931) only deal with Dominions?
Was there really no consideration of granting India similar status, or at least similar responsibility / footing to Dominions?
It was considered, actively debated at the political level, and the ...
- 118
10
votes
is there a connection between the British slate roofs and slate roofs found in the Himalayan State of India ( Uttarakhand)
An article on Himachal slate gives multiple examples of temples (such as Chandrashekhar Temple among others) with slate roofs from the 10th-century onwards. It also mentions that in certain areas ...
- 26k
10
votes
Accepted
What happened with the 31.5 ft giant in Jubbulpore district (now Jabalpur), India, August 8, 1934?
I can't find anything but old news reports about the "reports". This seems a pretty clear indication that nobody actually preserved any bones with this reported length to study further. If ...
- 126k
9
votes
What was the population of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent in 1800 AD?
India's first (& most reliable) census was from 1867 to 1871, known as the 1872 Census of India. The Government of India confirms this in their census history. So, there is no data prior to this ...
- 6,339
9
votes
What is the historical accuracy of birth of lord Sri Krishna
Krishna's historical situation appears to be similar to that of Jesus: there's probably enough consistent historical evidence to say that he existed at one time as a human being, and a few other ...
- 126k
9
votes
Identify two Medieval Indian coins
It has Arabesque inscriptions so it is minted by one of the Muslim Kingdoms or Empires. They are similar in style to Suri/Mughal coinage
Your first coin is upside down. By setting it right we get the ...
- 8,245
9
votes
What factors explain Indian territorial restraint towards Pakistani occupied Kashmir despite military success against Pakistan?
The question, whatever objections are made to its phrasing, boils down to: India won 3 wars easily and hasn't pushed its advantage to take over Pakistani Kashmir. Why?
This is highly speculative, ...
- 7,883
9
votes
Accepted
What does "MET HLS INDIA" inscribed on a bottom of brass sugar bowl mean?
There's a German Antiques and Arts Kunst und Troedel website where it says that MET HLS INDIA means Metropolitan Hotels India. It's in German so I used Google translate.
Silvered from India is ...
- 400
9
votes
Where in India (exactly) did the train 653 accident happen?
I don't know where the accident happened, whether it was on the bridge over water or on (usually) dry land.
Here is a link to an official report on the accident.
https://archive.org/details/dli....
- 19.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible