Thande
Donor
A fairly common 20th century variation we see on random maps is a united Greater India (i.e. the present Indian Republic + Pakistan + Bangladesh + and possibly Nepal and Bhutan). Usually there is no attempt to explain why this is there, and EdT went over some of the reasons why it may not be so feasible in A Greater Britain. Realistically, if you want to go erasing borders in lieu of doing research, you probably need a POD before the formation of the All India Muslim League in 1906, which could butterfly away Indian independence altogether or at least turn it into something radically different.
But never mind all this. Let's just suppose that this Greater India comes into existence and manages to hold together. My random thought was this: suddenly, China's not the most populous country in the world.
China's current population is about 1.3 billion. Totting up Greater India gives you nearly 1.5. Why's this significant? Well, it's as though we're hardwired to think of China as two things, Ancient Civilisation and Most Populous Country. I think that'd still apply even in TLs where China is divided between Nationalist and Communist states or balkanised. After all, even when China was fractured in its civil wars of the 20th century, people still spoke of "China" as a single cultural unit, and we'd probably still get comments like "one person in five is Chinese".
India impinges much less strongly on Western popular culture, especially outside Britain where there is at least the colonial history and immigration connection. But the divisions on the map are really modern inventions and thinking of say Lahore or Dhaka as "Indian" would make perfect sense to any Victorian - indeed they would be astonished that anyone would think otherwise. So my point is that in TTL, this Greater India would indeed be thought of as a single unit again - culturally and religiously diverse, of course, but so is China to a lesser extent and that does not alter its perception as a monolithic unit.
This is more of a philosophical WI, but I do wonder how the Western child's view of the world (and that of the average adult disinterested in geography and history he will grow into) would be different if the country at the top of the list was India, and if one in five people were Indian. Certainly, at the very least, I think this hypothetical state would have a stronger role in popular culture.
But never mind all this. Let's just suppose that this Greater India comes into existence and manages to hold together. My random thought was this: suddenly, China's not the most populous country in the world.
China's current population is about 1.3 billion. Totting up Greater India gives you nearly 1.5. Why's this significant? Well, it's as though we're hardwired to think of China as two things, Ancient Civilisation and Most Populous Country. I think that'd still apply even in TLs where China is divided between Nationalist and Communist states or balkanised. After all, even when China was fractured in its civil wars of the 20th century, people still spoke of "China" as a single cultural unit, and we'd probably still get comments like "one person in five is Chinese".
India impinges much less strongly on Western popular culture, especially outside Britain where there is at least the colonial history and immigration connection. But the divisions on the map are really modern inventions and thinking of say Lahore or Dhaka as "Indian" would make perfect sense to any Victorian - indeed they would be astonished that anyone would think otherwise. So my point is that in TTL, this Greater India would indeed be thought of as a single unit again - culturally and religiously diverse, of course, but so is China to a lesser extent and that does not alter its perception as a monolithic unit.
This is more of a philosophical WI, but I do wonder how the Western child's view of the world (and that of the average adult disinterested in geography and history he will grow into) would be different if the country at the top of the list was India, and if one in five people were Indian. Certainly, at the very least, I think this hypothetical state would have a stronger role in popular culture.