How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India? • Hacker News Board

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#41

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 3:50 PM UTC

smnrchrds wrote: post #27

sct202 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Native Americans had no exposure or resistance to smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, malaria, measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis, etc etc. There are a lot of accounts of cities and towns being completely depopulated very rapidly during the early colonial period just from disease before there was large scale immigration to the Americas from the old world.

Follow-up question: why did the disease exchange only affect native Americans. Why didn't the colonists perish due to contact with deadly American diseases they had no exposure or resistance to? Why were the European diseases so deadly to Americans, but not vice versa?

For one thing, there are accounts of Europeans deliberately exposing the natives to diseases. It wasn't just a natural unfortunate occurance.

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#42

Post by jrochkind1 » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 3:51 PM UTC

Uh... but how had the Indians been doing it for thousands of years?

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#43

Post by skrause » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:04 PM UTC

smnrchrds wrote: post #27

sct202 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Native Americans had no exposure or resistance to smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, malaria, measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis, etc etc. There are a lot of accounts of cities and towns being completely depopulated very rapidly during the early colonial period just from disease before there was large scale immigration to the Americas from the old world.

Follow-up question: why did the disease exchange only affect native Americans. Why didn't the colonists perish due to contact with deadly American diseases they had no exposure or resistance to? Why were the European diseases so deadly to Americans, but not vice versa?

There is a great video by CGP Grey which covers exactly that topic: https://youtu.be/JEYh5WACqEk

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#44

Post by BerislavLopac » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

rhcom2 wrote: post #38

smnrchrds wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Follow-up question: why did the disease exchange only affect native Americans. Why didn't the colonists perish due to contact with deadly American diseases they had no exposure or resistance to? Why were the European diseases so deadly to Americans, but not vice versa?

Interesting question. I found this: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/03/native-ameri... Fun tidbit: > But contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t all one sided. It’s believed that one Native American disease did slip on to the European ships and sailed onward to Europe doing some major damage in the process. That disease was syphilis.

It is one theory, but things are not completely clear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis#Origin

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#45

Post by LeifCarrotson » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

ptah wrote: post #14

finolex1 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert on Indian history, but that seems implausible. Famines would only serve to increase unrest and undermine the stability of British rule. The famines seem to be more a result of neglect and mismanagement than active efforts. Furthermore, India in the 1800s-1900s was not exactly like the Americas, Australia or South Africa. The population was much larger, and social, economic or cultural structures were mu…

starving people is more likely to make them stop fighting than make them start

The history of revolutions and riots in France, Russia, Ireland, and others [1] show the opposite: Often, people will tolerate inequality and injustice if they're fed and comfortable, but when people get hungry they get angry.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_riots

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#46

Post by brenden2 » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:10 PM UTC

Humans are good at acclimating to different climates, it's one of our unique adaptations. The ability to perspire and regulate body temperature in extremes is somewhat unique to humans, as few mammals share this ability. Other mammals do perspire, but only primates and horses sweat as much as we do.

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#47

Post by nemo » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:11 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #41

smnrchrds wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Follow-up question: why did the disease exchange only affect native Americans. Why didn't the colonists perish due to contact with deadly American diseases they had no exposure or resistance to? Why were the European diseases so deadly to Americans, but not vice versa?

For one thing, there are accounts of Europeans deliberately exposing the natives to diseases. It wasn't just a natural unfortunate occurance.

There are plural accounts, but there is only a single documented case historians have evidence for of the British at Fort Pitt deliberately using infected items from their infirmary.

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#48

Post by macewindu » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #9

macewindu wrote: post #5

[flagged]

Citation needed. The British certainly viewed Indians as expendable , and many decisions during (say) the Bengal Famine made squarely favored military wartime supply at the expense of the local population, but I don't think anybody has seriously proposed that the British intentionally created the famine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943#Historio...

[flagged]

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#49

Post by z3phyr » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:21 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #34

acd10j wrote: post #22

Why so much concern of British officers in India, Better question would be how did common Indian population survived British Raj, when American Native populations did not.

There was enough trade to exchange disease between Europe and Asia. The most well known example would be the plague that devestated Europe originated in East Asia. So the Indian population survived because they were exposed to the same diseases as Europeans and had developed some level of immunity.

> There was enough trade to exchange disease between Europe and Asia

If you look at the long term history, there was widespread and massive instances of migrations too.

Re: How did British officers live in the scorching heat of India?

#50

Post by z3phyr » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

acd10j wrote: post #22

Why so much concern of British officers in India, Better question would be how did common Indian population survived British Raj, when American Native populations did not.

The population was too high and the institutions were robust. The institutions were also loosely identical to the other entities of the old world, and therefor designed to survive imperial institutions of similar kind.

This is similar to the British occupying any other large population center / former power in the old world. They won't probably be able to wipe the whole culture out.