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Comment by _h4xr | Hacker News Reader

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_computing_2400_BC-1...

This is surprising. Indian mathematicians invented the 0, binary, formal language specs, logarithms... I wonder what changed.

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If you mean what changed in recent times - imperial rule. It has been only 60 years since India has been independent.

This was a negative?

India was made up of numerous warring states, until one massive war that turned them into a possession of Britain. I'm not aware of how their economic situation changed after that, but if Africa is any indicator... http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/08/country...

I am not sure if it was all negative... I am sure the British brought good things to India. I do believe a century long British rule changed the focus and stifled innovation and free thought. How would it have gone had the British never ruled... hard to tell.

The British came centuries later in 1600. They unified the country, brought a common language, railways, administration etc.

Many people say that far greater damage was wrought by the many Muslim emperors and invasions.

By the time the British came, Indian Science was over.

Did the British rule of Britain have the same effect? How, then, could they have produced Newton and Babbage when Indian mathematicians were on the same path centuries (or millennia!) earlier?

Just to stir the pot a bit - whenever I hear debates about empires, colonialism etc, I'm always reminded of the phrase, 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'.

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