Science and Empire: How Technology was Used in India During the British Rule

  • Unique Paper ID: 185568
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 5
  • PageNo: 1877-1885
  • Abstract:
  • The history of science and technology is intricately linked to the history of colonial India. Almost two centuries of British colonial control in India included scientific intervention and technological advancement in addition to political dominance and economic exploitation. In addition to becoming instruments of empire, railways, telegraphs, irrigation projects, medical facilities, and survey activities also came to represent modernity. However, colonial agendas of control, government, and extraction molded this modernity, which was neither neutral nor equal. The way science and technology operated in India during British colonialism is critically examined in this essay. It examines the twin use of scientific methods: first, as tools of imperial authority that restructured the environment, economy, and society of India; on the other, as locations where Indian actors interacted with, adopted, and occasionally contested colonial science through negotiation, resistance, and hybridization. Based on the writings of historians like David Arnold, Deepak Kumar, Pratik Chakrabarti, and C.A. Bayly, this study makes the case that colonial science was a dynamic process of interaction influenced by empire, economy, and culture rather than just the dissemination of Western knowledge to the colonies. The study shows how the technologies of empire functioned as both tools of dominance and drivers of long-term social and economic development in India by concentrating on railways, telegraphs, public health, agriculture, and educational initiatives.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2025 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{185568,
        author = {Golam Mortuja},
        title = {Science and Empire: How Technology was Used in India During the British Rule},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {5},
        pages = {1877-1885},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=185568},
        abstract = {The history of science and technology is intricately linked to the history of colonial India. Almost two centuries of British colonial control in India included scientific intervention and technological advancement in addition to political dominance and economic exploitation. In addition to becoming instruments of empire, railways, telegraphs, irrigation projects, medical facilities, and survey activities also came to represent modernity. However, colonial agendas of control, government, and extraction molded this modernity, which was neither neutral nor equal. The way science and technology operated in India during British colonialism is critically examined in this essay. It examines the twin use of scientific methods: first, as tools of imperial authority that restructured the environment, economy, and society of India;
on the other, as locations where Indian actors interacted with, adopted, and occasionally contested colonial science through negotiation, resistance, and hybridization. Based on the writings of historians like David Arnold, Deepak Kumar, Pratik Chakrabarti, and C.A. Bayly, this study makes the case that colonial science was a dynamic process of interaction influenced by empire, economy, and culture rather than just the dissemination of Western knowledge to the colonies. The study shows how the technologies of empire functioned as both tools of dominance and drivers of long-term social and economic development in India by concentrating on railways, telegraphs, public health, agriculture, and educational initiatives.},
        keywords = {Colonial Science; Technology; British Empire; Railways; Public Health; Knowledge Systems.},
        month = {October},
        }

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 5
  • PageNo: 1877-1885

Science and Empire: How Technology was Used in India During the British Rule

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