How a minority dominates over a majority _ study in History

[prasad1]

Share:

Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

Seeing the way a small group of armed terrorists (ISIS) are controlling a large portion of Iraq. I was thinking that it is so easy for a minority to rule over a majority.
This probably explains how a small group of Englishmen from thousands of miles away defeat the great Indian princely states.

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time. The empire covered more than 33,700,000 km2 (13,012,000 sq mi), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, the phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets" was often used to describe the British Empire, because its expanse across the globe meant that the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

British Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[biswa]

Obviously the British were smarter or more cunning than their subjects.

So were the Spanish over their Latin American conquests.

 

[vgane]

How about the wily nily French which was the No 2 colonizer behind the British empire owning 10% of the world in land area & 5% of world population between 1920 & 1930's

 

[prasad1]

How about the wily nily French which was the No 2 colonizer behind the British empire owning 10% of the world in land area & 5% of world population between 1920 & 1930's

You are right, The French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Italians also had colonies are protectorates.
I only posted the British Empire because it involved India.
Most of the colonies comprised of sparsely populated area, or only inhabited by nomadic tribes. It is easy to run over land where there is no resistance. The british colonized Indian States which had standing military force. I would assume that a Military force is supposed to defend against foreign invaders. So colonizing of India is much more than colonizing of say Australia or Brazil.