{"id":67766,"date":"2024-11-12T01:28:58","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/nov\/11\/colonial-legacies-like-the-great-hedge-of-india-should-be-taught-in-schools"},"modified":"2024-11-12T01:28:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:28:58","slug":"colonial-legacies-like-the-great-hedge-of-india-should-be-taught-in-schools-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=67766","title":{"rendered":"Colonial legacies like the Great Hedge of India should be taught in schools | Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Cliff Southcombe <\/strong>and <strong>Marianne Hood <\/strong>believe it is time to foster a greater understanding of the British empire and its impact<\/p>\n<p>Few in the UK are aware of one of the most egregious historical structures built in the name of colonial profit: the Great Hedge of India. Stretching nearly 2,000 miles across the Indian subcontinent, this sprawling barrier was part of Britain\u2019s salt tax enforcement system during the 19th century. The tax itself caused widespread suffering, depriving millions of Indians of a resource essential to life, as salt prices were deliberately inflated. The construction and maintenance of the hedge enforced these punitive measures, with a devastating impact on Indian society, the economy and human health. The hedge stands as a symbol of a darker legacy of colonialism, where economic gain was prioritised over human life, stability and dignity.<\/p>\n<p>The exact number of lives affected and lost as a result of the salt tax and the Great Hedge is unrecorded \u2013 a reflection of the erasure that surrounds this part of colonial history. The physical evidence of this hedge has largely been destroyed or lost, but the economic consequences and human toll of this policy \u2013 administered and enforced by the colonial administration \u2013 echo throughout history.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/nov\/11\/colonial-legacies-like-the-great-hedge-of-india-should-be-taught-in-schools\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cliff Southcombe and Marianne Hood believe it is time to foster a greater understanding of the British empire and its impactFew in the UK are aware of one of the most egregious historical structures built in the name of colonial profit: the Great Hedge&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,749,3023,615,614,62,1082],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british-empire","category-colonialism","category-curriculums","category-education","category-history","category-india","category-schools"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67767,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67766\/revisions\/67767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}