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Essay Subject: Summarizes & compares historical development of the 2 economies 1700-1970s. Discusses major factors incl. British rule. Diversification, modernization & industrialization. Political aspects & impact.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Summarizes & compares historical development of the 2 economies 1700-1970s. Discusses major factors incl. British rule. Diversification, modernization & industrialization. Political aspects & impact. Paper Introduction: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA AND INDIA (1700-1970s) This research paper summarizes and compares the historical development of the Canadian and Indian economies during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries (through the 1970s) and discusses the major factors which facilitated or impeded progress. In the 20th century Canada emerged as a major, sophisticated and balanced industrial economy with high per capita income. The foundations of growth were laid in previous centuries. Canada's precarious early settlement survived due to assistance from its rival mercantilist mother countries, France, and, after 1763, Great Britain. Its ties to Britain's dynamically expanding domestic and foreign trade economy resulting from the commercial revolution of the 18th century and the industrial revolution of the 19th century enabled Eastern Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The primary aimof the French in Canada in the 16th and 17th centuries was not settlement,but the development of the fur trade and their commercial and naval rivalrywith the English in the North Atlantic. Led by enterprising buccaneers such as Robert Clive and WarrenHastings, it manipulated various Indian factions, succeeded in the 175 s inobtaining control of India's richest province Bengal and, with the help ofthe Royal Navy, gradually ousted the French from their bastion atPondicherry on the west coast. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1998.Creighton, Donald. According to Landes, the revenues of the Mogul KingAurangzeb in 17 1 were $45 million, ten times those of Louis XIV ofFrance, and the accumulated treasure of the regime had a value of about $1-1.5 billion (156). After the189 s, its growth slowed because of Japanese and Chinese competition. Duringthe period leading up to World War I, Canadian industry, 8 percent ofwhich was still located in Quebec and Ontario in 1911, began to "shift fromthe processing of primary products into the secondary manufacturing offinished goods" into industries such as textiles, pulp and paper and farmmachinery (Creighton 1 7; and Bumsted 226). By the end of the197 s, efforts by India's new leaders to achieve rapid industrializationthrough massive state intervention in, and control of the economy, hadhelped create a substantial industrial base. More Rapid Modernization and Industrialization. India had made little scientific progress for centuries. In earlier periods of Canadian history, American-Canadian relationswere troubled, as a result of two unsuccessful American invasions in 1774-1775 and in 1812, border disputes, and Canadian fears of becoming absorbedby American continental expansion, a constant spur to Canadian developmentof its west. New York: Columbia UP, 1981.Landes, David S. Minerals became important exports after the discoveryof gold in the Fraser Valley and the Yukon, asbestos fiber in Quebec andother metals. has failed to make a significant impact on the problems of mass poverty. The Pelican History of Canada. An importantreason why this was so is that, as Landes put it, "India's economicdevelopment from the late 18th century came to be shaped more by Britishimperial policy than by indigenous initiative" (396). Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1983.Lall, Arthur. In the 16th century, McNaught said this vast expanse was populated byonly about 2 , Indians and a few thousand Eskimos (19). Its ties to Britain'sdynamically expanding domestic and foreign trade economy resulting from thecommercial revolution of the 18th century and the industrial revolution ofthe 19th century enabled Eastern and Central Canada to develop theirnatural resources and to start down the road to industrialization. The foundations ofgrowth were laid in previous centuries. Pandit Nehru andmost of the other leaders of the Congress Party rejected Mahatma Gandhi'sproposal that India return to a rural life style and support itself throughvillage level handicrafts and cooperative agriculture. The British introduced many technological innovations, such asrailroad construction, the development of roads, ports, postal andtelegraph systems, public education, irrigation and improved public healthsystems from which many Indians benefited. However, overall growth wasstymied by intractable problems associated with rural poverty, populationincrease, religious and ethnic divisions and serious problems ofgovernance. India's record is much lessenviable. The partition of India and Pakistan produced severe economicdislocation because of the religious violence involved, the cost ofresettling refugees and the need of India to replace rice and wheat growingregions lost to Pakistan. Otherbenefits included international peace, domestic political stability and thepeaceful achievement of independence, largely achieved by 1867, thetentative resolution of Anglo-French ethnic tensions and federal-provincialstrains and the adaptation of political, economic, legal and culturalinstitutions conducive to growth. Washington, DC: GPO, 1996.Innis, Mary Quayle. Holtzman and Worden said "estimates in the late 197 s put the numberof people who lived in poverty at 3 million, or nearly 5 per cent of thepopulation" (3 1). M. was a private enterprise economyand the vast bulk of decisions about the allocation of resources were madeby private businessmen" (553-554). . Rural andCatholic discontent over dominance by the Montreal elites led to therecommendation by the British Durham Report in 1842 that Canada be unifiedunder locally autonomous elected governments, a recommendation whicheventually came to fruition through the formation of the CanadianConfederation in 1867 and its achievement of Dominion status. Otherimportant manufacturing industries included jute production and, after19 , the iron and steel industry, which expanded rapidly during both worldwars as India became Britain's armorer east of Suez. According to McNaught, "the scarcity and caution ofdomestic investors" and "high transportation costs over great and thinlypopulated districts" . British rule introduced modernizinginfluences to India, not in as traumatic fashion as did the Western impacton China, for example, but perhaps it delayed the Indian response more thanin Asian nations that maintained their independence such as Japan. In1975-1977, Indira Gandhi, as Prime Minister, imposed an unpopular State ofEmergency and was forced to solicit more foreign aid from the West. It has managedits resources well. Impact of the Raj. France steadily lost ground to the Englishwho were becoming the world's dominant naval power. In the 2 th century Canada emerged as a major, sophisticated andbalanced industrial economy with high per capita income. "dictated . . . On balance, Canada gained economically from itsproximity to its American neighbor. output during theperiod from 186 to 192 ," but that agricultural output thereafter failedto keep up with the rate of population increase. In 17 , India possessed a highly developed culture and awealthy but largely pre-modern economy which suffered from politicaldisunity and lacked the technological base needed to preserve itsindependence. New York: St. W. Worden (eds.). Technology ispart of the answer, as suggested by the increased agricultural output andproductivity achieved by the Green Revolution begun in the 197 s, but muchmore fundamental institutional and attitudinal reforms are required. . Martin's P, 197 .Dantwala, M. Canadian manufacturing andshipbuilding boomed during World War II, and per capita income growthaveraged 7.3 percent (Rostow 449). India's population increased from about 185 million in 17 to 255million in 1871, 285 million in 19 , 389 million in 1941 and 534 millionin 195 (Kumar 522). Lawrence Valley in the 16th and early 17th century,extensive timber resources and mineral deposits, the agriculturalbreadbasket in the St. New York: Norton, 1998.McNaught, Kenneth. The small French communities in the fishing villages of the Easterncoast and in the St. 18 -186 . Sincethe late 19th century, the United States has displaced Great Britain asCanada's principal source of foreign capital and technology and has becomeits largest trading partner. and less thanthat in Japan, Western Europe or the United States" (379-38 ). Various techniques were employedfor this purpose, including irrigation and community development projectsand some efforts at land reform. Wallerstein said in the 19thcentury world system created by the capitalist nations of north westernEurope (the core) produced manufactured goods with heavy capital inputswhile the rest of the world (the periphery) was relegated to the export oflabor-intensive, low value added raw materials, producing "markedly unequaldistribution of rewards" in favor of the core (88-89). The basic thrust wastoward rapid industrialization through the creation of state-owned heavyindustry to enable India to achieve economic self-sufficiency bysubstituting domestic production for imports. According to Innis, "the colony, dependent on the fur trade andmilitary support, had little agricultural, industrial or commercialdevelopment to sustain it" (49). . The greatinflow of immigrants from Europe, an increase from 16,8 in 1896 to5 , in 192 , 4.5 million between 188 and 192 , came later, as did thetremendous increase in wheat production, from 55.6 million bushels in 1 1to 231.4 million bushels in 1912 (McNaught 192; and Creighton 1 4). . As Prime Minister,Nehru implemented between 195 and 1964 his 'third way,' an alternativepath to industrialization to both communism and capitalism. Canada's economy continued to expand and diversify in the post-warperiod. Substantial effort but lowerlevels of funding went into combating rural poverty by raising theproductivity and output of agriculture. Beneath the surface, however, the Indianeconomy had many weaknesses. . Berkeley: U of California P, 1991.----------------------- 2 The 182 s and183 s saw a canal building boom and the 184 s and 185 s the first railwayconstruction which inter-connected Eastern and Central Canada (Ontario) andbrought the wheat of Upper Canada and Ontario to world markets. India's cotton textile industry recovered in the late 19th centurydue to the initiative of private investors in the Bombay area. Middlesex, ON: Penguin Books, 1976.Maddison, Angus. The state has a major role to play in India's continuingmodernization, much more so than in Canada, but India's experiment in statesocialism suggests there are dangers in trying to do too much too soon. Economic History of Canada. The British made some efforts to break up thetraditional Indian caste system which restricted the mobility of capitaland labor and half-hearted attempts at land and tax reform, but since theland tax was their principal source of revenue, James said "when majoralterations to the tax system were proposed, expediency overruledcompassion" (195). Under the Quebec Act of 1774, Britain recognized thereligious rights of French-Canadian Catholics, provincial politicalautonomy and various other privileges, thereby ushering in a real, butnonetheless frequently uneasy, ethnic peace between the Anglo and Frenchcommunities. Pentup wartime demand, Europe's recovery, the discovery of oil andgas in Alberta province and uranium in northern Ontario and the Korean Warhelped fuel the boom. . Thepopulation steeply increased as a result of the resettlement in Canada of4 , American Loyalists and the massive influx of immigrants from theBritish Isles after 179 , 8 , between 1812 and 1837 (McNaught 37). Major economic issues in the postwarperiod were the lagging development of the eastern Maritime Provinces,income inequality which led to a substantial expansion in Canadian socialservices, such as public housing, old age pensions and national healthinsurance. Progress was more impressive under the first two Five Year Plans(1951-1955 and 1956-196 ) than in succeeding ones. The government subsidized the trans-continental railroads withland grants and guarantees of foreign bonds. This coupled with continued rural stagnation meant that Indiawas unable to feed its population at the time of Independence. New York: St. GDP rose 3.6 percentp.a. The association of Canada with the British Empire brought manyeconomic benefits. under the First and 3.9 percent under the Second; GDP per capitagrowth was less impressive, 1.7 and 1.9 percent, respectively (Holtzman andWorden 639). The increasein power of the national government periodically provoked resistance,notably during the Riel rebellion of the 188 s by various western have notgroups with some Catholic support, which was overcome. Paris: OECD, 1995.Rostow, W. According to most accounts, India hardlyprogressed economically between 182 and 1947. The result was very slow growth inthe European population, from 2 in 1663, when Canada became a colony,New France, to 16,417 in 17 6 and about 5 , in 176 , (Innis 12). Dantwala said income inequality was great and"the mass of the population was poorer than Europeans" (11). India, too, has the resources and skills necessary to provide thesinews of a modern and globally competitive economy and to feed its rapidlygrowing population. He concludes that "for the whole centurybefore Independence, Indian growth . The prowess of Indian information age scientists andengineers in the late 2 th century is one of many indicators that India'scomparative advantage does not lie solely in its hundreds of millions ofpeasant laborers. The first Reciprocal Tariff Treaty was signed in 1854. Monitoring the World Economy 182 -1992. Raj The Making And Unmaking of the British Empire in India. Lawrence and Great Lakes regions and the westernprairie and abundant cheap energy sources. Lawrence Valley struggled to survive against the cold,disease, Indian attacks, uncertainty of supply, fierce competition for thefur trade from the Dutch in the Mohawk Valley and the English in HudsonBay. India. McNaughtsaid "new rail-connected markets could sustain the beginnings of localindustrialization," --import substitution industries such as flour mills,breweries, sawmills and other wood and metal-working industries. Thefailure of the post-Independence Indian state to achieve balanceddevelopment, to attack the age-old problem of overpopulation and ruralpoverty, suggests that its future development depends largely on itsability to integrate the bulk of the nation into the impressive economicprogress made in industry and by its burgeoning middle class. 186 -1918. Lall said "the British Indianempire . less urbanized than it had been at the beginningwith over 9 percent of its much larger population dependent on the landfor support" (Wolpert 51). His GDPper capita growth figures are even lower, $523 in 182 , the same in 187 ,$652 in 19 , $688 in 1913 and $614 in 195 (24). That the traditional Indian economy had generated great wealth isevidenced by the opulence of the architecture and dazzling court life ofthe Peacock Throne. As anexample Wolpert cites "the widespread backlash to [Sanjay Gandhi'scompulsory] sterilization [program which] turned birth control intopolitical suicide . . TheAmerican colonies were twenty times larger. was not large . A History of the World Economy International Economic Relations Since 185 . For example, Aitken said "Canada has been one of thelargest and most consistent borrowers in economic history" but "thoseborrowings have, for the most part, been put to productive use" (67). Bumsted said that in 1815 Canada was "heavily dependent onBritish aid," but "by the 184 s it could boast a very active, even vibrant,commercial economy . Kumar's estimates aresimilar, a net .5 percent GDP per capita growth rate from 186 to 192 and1 percent from 192 -1947 (379). The 197 s were a chaotic period in Indian economic history. AsFrankel summed up the situation in 1977: India . Assessment and Conclusions Canada has amassed a remarkable set of accomplishments intransforming its economy from that of a frozen frontier settlement to amodern industrial powerhouse within 3 years. However, the primary purposes ofthe railroads was defense and to move goods to ports. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA AND INDIA (17 -197 s) This research paper summarizes and compares the historicaldevelopment of the Canadian and Indian economies during the 18th, 19th and2 th centuries (through the 197 s) and discusses the major factors whichfacilitated or impeded progress. Full industrial take-off. Overall gains from huge investments in modern science and technology have made India into the tenth greatest national economy in the world. Most of Canada's huge land mass, allof which was covered by ice until 1 , years ago, did not lend itself toeconomic development, but the country is blessed in its southern portionswith a temperate climate and rich, arable soil, the great fisheries offNewfoundland and British Columbia and the fur trade of the interiordeveloped by explorers such as Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain whofirst explored the St. Kumar said "Britishpublic investment in irrigation, roads, education and other developmentoriented infrastructure was very limited" (947). However, Indian net economicgrowth remained slight during the 19th and early 2 th centuries, asadvances in agriculture and the beginnings of industrialization were offsetby population growth and colonial transfers. Birth rates approximately doubled during the firsthalf of the 2 th century reflecting lower infant mortality and greaterlongevity. . . Lall said "[British] armaments and the mobilityof its forces were far superior to those of the Indians" (9). . India's path toward economic development has been much more torturedand uneven. The expansion in GDP per capita was at firstgradual, between 1.3 percent in 1867-187 to 2.4 percent in 191 -192 (Rostow 449). By the end of the 19thcentury, India was . Rostow called the approach of the British government toward India'seconomic development "a century of piecemeal modernization" (5 9).According to Kumar, the state's share of GDP growth was never more than 1 percent. Theintroduction of modern technology and methods of production created arudimentary transportation and communications infrastructure, irrigation,education and other modern improvements. . Princeton: Princeton UP, 1978.Holtzman, James, and Robert L. Martin's P, 1997.Kumar, Dharma (ed.). The issue of Quebec's possible separation from the Confederationbecame acute in the late 196 s and 197 s. Manufacturing expanded two and halftimes (Foreman-Peck 266). Landessaid "India's artisans, however skilled, had scarcely started on the pathto instrumentation" (228). Works CitedAitken, Hugh G. Bumsted said that "not until after the end of the War of1812 did the various provinces of British North America really begin todevelop their economies" (1 5). By the 197 s, the distribution of thenation's wealth and the problem of French-speaking separatism were themajor issues. The dependence of Canada on the United Stateshas been a frequent source of concern in Ottawa since the late 195 s butthe inter-dependence of the economies of the two countries is a fact and,on balance, an important factor in Canada's economic progress since 188 . In the period 1961-1968, GDP growth averaged 2.2 percent andGDP per capita growth was zero (639). and a growing transatlantic carrying trade" (1 5).During these years Montreal became a great financial center. American Capital And Canadian Resources. . Independence was gained in1947 only after a long, protracted and divisive struggle. . The East India Company was chartered by the British governmentin 16 . According to Kumar,"during the interwar period Indian manufacturing output grew at a rate wellabove the world average" and during World War II "was not only able toachieve a greater total output but a much wider range of manufacturedproducts" in industries such as pulp and paper and cement. GDP growth from 195 to 1973 was a solid 5.1 per centp.a. The World Economy History & Prospect. However, not only has Canada benefited from special naturalfactor endowments, such as large expanses of fertile land waiting to bepopulated, great mineral wealth and other natural resources, and a largetemperate climactic zone, but it has been able to take advantage of a veryfavorable set of historical and geographical circumstances, Anglo-Frenchrivalry and 18th century state mercantilism which helped ensure itssurvival, its fortuitous acquisition by Great Britain and its strategiclocation in the North Atlantic and north of the American economicpowerhouse. The Essential Wallerstein. These factors, together with massiveimmigration and capital and technology imports, fueled Canada's westwardexpansion and the exploitation of its vast mineral and agriculturalresources in the late 19th and early 2 th century. Ethnic and religiousantagonism between the Hindu and Muslim and Sikh communities sharpened. Most of this work was financed by private enterprise,but provincial governments played a major role in financing canalconstruction and the national government guaranteed railway bonds held byBritish investors. The Canadian economy was given further impetus by the demandof the Western allies for food and for arms which caused iron and steeloutput to triple. (Maddison 83). New foreign investmentcapital, primarily from Britain, rose from $15 million in 1841-1849 to $2 million in 1868-1875 (Aitken 26). Nearly 8 years of instability and warfollowed before the British Empire was firmly ensconced in India. Politically, Canada moved gradually toward self-government. Per capita income rose from $2758 in 19 to $7 47 in195 and 13,644 in 1973 (Maddison 24). India has always been densely populated. L. It involveddirection by the state along lines incorporated in successive Five YearPlans prepared by a central Planning Commission. Kumar said "since the mid-196 s, agricultural production has stagnated" (966). Easternand Central Canada were also connected by postal and telegraph systems inthe 184 s and 185 s. Canada's First Century 1867-1967. Sustainedindustrialization was spurred by the wealth thus created, the effects oftwo world wars, and the expansion of world trade and investment during mostof the 2 th century. British trade policyforced "millions of unemployed craftsmen to return to the soil to scratchmeagre livelihoods directly from crowded lands. Kumar said improved irrigation and other measuresdid produce "very substantial growth in foodgrain . India A Country Study. . provincialpressures, the ease with which it negotiated its independence and theincome distribution and other issues of the 2 th century. Cambridge:Harvard UP, 1961.Bumsted, J. By gaining access to the British market and expanding worldmarkets controlled by Britain, Innis said "both imports and exports ofCanada increased strikingly" in the late 18th century and the early 18 s(49). since 1977" (226). Canada'swestward expansion was made possible by the technologies of the IndustrialRevolution, the availability of foreign and domestic capital for expansionand the massive increase in immigration needed to fill up the empty spaces.Canada's unification enabled the national government to direct the entireprocess. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble, 1983.Frankel, Francine R. Much of its area is unusablebecause of poor climate or terrain, resulting in heavy population densityin the fertile river valleys where the uncertainties of the monsoons andthe enervating and debilitating effects of tropical heat limited theproductivity of the land. . Risk capitalwas practically non-existent because of the rapacity of government taxcollectors. The 192 s were a period ofindustrial expansion in Canada and rising consumer demand, but also laterin the decade agricultural decline. . (1) Through the Home Charge, India's governmental revenues financedby the taxation of Indian landholders paid for all the costs ofadministration, including the India-related costs of the colonial office inLondon and the costs of maintaining the British military in India whichwaged war intermittently through most of the late 18th and early 19thcentury; (2) Until the English adopted free trade in the 184 s, India'stextile industry was deliberately ruined as India was turned into a sourceof raw materials (raw cotton, silk, indigo, tea, etc.) for the Empire andas an outlet for British manufactured goods. Rostow said after 1867, "theconfederation looked to the opening up of new lands and resources, a fulleast-west trans-continental railroad system, a Canadian industry protectedby tariffs" (448-449). By 198 it was clear thatacceptance and implementation of such changes will take time and furtherstrain India's political and social fabric. Austin: U of Texas P, 1978.Wallerstein, Immanuel. The French were forcedto cede Newfoundland and Acadia (Nova Scotia) to Great Britain in 1713 andlost Canada after their defeat at Quebec in 1759 as a result of the SevenYears' War (1754-1763). But this achievement seems to have increased rather than reduced the persistent and deepening dualism between the still limited modern industrial sector and the vast rural hinterland [where] a minority of prosperous farmers is swamped by growing numbers of marginal cultivators and landless laborers who have the greatest difficulty even meeting their minimum consumption needs (xi). India's Experiment with State Socialism (195 -1979). India's Political Economy, 1947-1977. . The Cambridge Economic History of India Volume 2 1757- 197 . India's Economic Development State of India's Economy at the Time of the British Conquest (17 -183 ). a more active role of governmentplanning and financing" of such projects than was true in the United States(8 ). India, however, has always been a difficult society toorganize both politically and economically due to its many religious,ethnic and linguistic divisions. . One cannot helped by the strength of its institutions and thespirit of compromise which has enabled it to weather the stressesassociated with Anglo-French Canadian ethnic tension, federal v. . J. became in effect an economic reservation for the British, whoused the great market of India for their own economic advantage" (17).Holtzman and Worden said "many of the dynamic craft or cottage industries .. . . The Emergence of Modern India. The Wealth And Poverty of Nations. Timber gradually surpassed fur as Canada's principal export. Indian artisanry in many fields was superior to Europeanas witnessed by the Royal Navy's preference to have its ships built atMadras during the 18th century. He said "the Indian economy . Maddison estimated averageper annum GDP growth rates at .1 percent between 182 and 187 , .4 percentbetween 187 and 1913 and -.3 percent between 1913 and 195 (25). New York: New P, 2 .Wolpert, Stanley. Traditional pre-industrial patterns were disrupted asthe British reshaped India's trading relationships with the West. A History of the Canadian Peoples. Unlike Canada, the impact of British colonial rule on India'seconomy was mixed. In general,India was left by the British with a rudimentary infrastructure, asubstantial but overworked and decaying industrial plant, enormous ruralpoverty and underemployment and a very high rate of illiteracy. The slowdown in growth was caused bya variety of factors: (1) The import-substitution strategy assumed thatsufficient foreign exchange earnings could be derived to finance themassive imports of machinery required, but exports languished in partbecause of the delays and disincentives created for the private sector byan "elaborate system of licensing and controls" (Kumar 985) and by India'sneed to import food to feed its rapidly growing population, which wasaggravated by droughts in 1965-6 and 1971; (2) many state enterprisesoperated highly inefficiently and the growth of a bloated bureaucracy andrising defense and social welfare spending produced large domestic deficitswhich fueled inflation while failing to stem rising unemployment; and (3)efforts to mobilize the agricultural sector by and large failed despiteconsiderable increases in agricultural output. Economic development and diversification of Eastern andCentral Canada. Canada's precarious earlysettlement survived due to assistance from its rival mercantilist mothercountries, France, and, after 1763, Great Britain. Canada's Economic Development 17 -18 Struggle for Survival. suffered extensively under competition with new modes of massproduction fostered by the British" (xxxvi). Both Canadian industry and agriculturesuffered sharp slumps during the 193 s. Toronto: Ryerson P, 1935.James, Lawrence. This growth was fueled by rising Britishand other European demand for primary products from Canada, furs, timberand grain. During the same period, Canadagreatly increased its resources of cheap energy by developing its coal andhydroelectric power. Delhi: Macmillan India, 1975.Foreman-Peck, James. Poverty in India Then And Now 187 -197 . Indian woven cloth (calico), silks, spices topreserve food, and saltpeter used in making gunpowder were in great demandin Europe. A seriesof shocks confounded government planners, including the costs of the 1971war with Pakistan and the resettlement of more than one million refugeesand the oil shocks administered by OPEC, droughts and rising food pricesand shortages and accompanying social unrest which together forced thegovernment to cut back public spending and take the first steps towardloosening constraints on the private sector. Crop yields wereconsistently well below those of other Asian nations such as China andJapan. 192 -198 . However, McNaught said "Canada was maturing slowly duringthose years and laying the base for 'economic take-off'" (163). In contrast to Canada, Indian civilization was more than 4, yearsold and had endured countless foreign invasions.The great Moghul or Islamic Empire, which had ruled most of India fornearly two centuries and was on the brink of political disintegration.Western traders, first the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally theEnglish and French, were attracted to India by the lure of trade andprospects for plunder. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.