Letters | Britain once shaped the world – and left it a mess

Feel strongly about this letter, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.

I refer to the letter, “How the British Empire still shapes world” (September 29). Apparently your correspondent only focused on the bright side of the United Kingdom and avoided the dark one, especially what the British empire did in Asia.

The British East India Company seized Bengal by force in 1757. Then, the British engineered a famine in 1770 that killed a third of the population. Following that, there were 24 famines between 1850 and 1899 in different parts of the country, in which millions of people died.

From 1765 to 1938, Britain extracted the equivalent of almost US$45 trillion from India. The country had around a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product in 1700, but by 1950 it had only around 4 per cent. In 1943, during World War II, then British prime minister Winston Churchill’s decision to divert food from Bengal to Britain contributed to a famine that resulted in an estimated 3 million Indian deaths. When India gained independence from the British, the literacy rate was less than 20 per cent.

From the late 17th century into the 18th century, Britain smuggled opium into China to try to turn around its trade deficit after the British could not find enough silver to pay the Qing government for its tea and porcelain exports. After China closed its ports in an attempt to curb opium use, the British started the First Opium War. China lost and was forced to cede Hong Kong to the British.