This is such a fun visualization, I’m going to try and do a history of India 1500-2019 using screenshots from it.https://twitter.com/randal_olson/status/1108031293143556097?s=20 …
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1560s: Blink-and-you-miss-it, coalition of Deccan Sultanates takes Vijaynagar down. You can visit the ruins at Hampi, a world heritage site. On my bucket list. In the North the Mughals have just gotten started. Akbar has not yet risen to greatness. They’re not on map yet.pic.twitter.com/HCmCiwlIaU
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1596: Who will shape the future more, the Gujarati trader-sailors out of Ahmedabad, or the successors of Vijaynagar, Bijapur, the biggest of the Deccan sultanates? Will Akbar promote pre-modern mercantile trade or insular medievalism?pic.twitter.com/vAZJ5zmfzg
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1600 - 1720s: Aaaand.... trade pulls ahead in the next century! Good job Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jansen. Not enough sadly. The world is pulling ahead. The Europeans are coming!pic.twitter.com/lCPwzijsyU
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1739: Oh noes! No Indian city in the top 10. The Mughal empire is in sharp decline after Bad Emperor Aurangzeb. It’s a few decades before Plassey. European powers are still getting chess pieces on the board.pic.twitter.com/j5tCYgIrSN
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1852 -1872: Before and after the 1856 revolt... the mercantile base created by the Portuguese is still the biggest city, but the Company has given way to the Crown. Calcutta rises.pic.twitter.com/NY9Vhj12Iy
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1920-1940: After nearly a century of post-Company British Raj, even Calcutta drops off the leaderboard. But makes a brief appearance again on the eve of WW2.pic.twitter.com/oU1mRFVQSK
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And finally after independence and half a century of stagnation under Nehruvian socialism, something of a return. 1998-2015, just before internet to today. Commie Calcutta is out, IT/politics power Delhi finally pulls ahead if mercantile power Bombay.pic.twitter.com/awzvNXT78q
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End of conversation
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I've often wondered if the focus on Mughals over Vijayanagara in India's national myth and culture has to do with bridging Hindu-Muslim divide. If the South-North cleavage was larger than confessional, maybe we would see more popular history about Vijayanagara.
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Gauda - present day Malda,WB capital of Pala empire.
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