9 Most Valuable Things Stolen By The British From India And Other Countries

This year, India will be celebrating its 74th year of independence. This freedom was achieved after 200 years of slavery. Britain looted India in the two centuries. An economic study tried to estimate how much British took out of India, it ended up at a number of $45 trillion in today¡¯s value. Not just India, British also stole valuable things from around other countries. Here are some of them:

1. Koh-i-Noor

Williamdalrymple

The 105.6 metric carat diamond, weighing 21.6 grammes Koh-i-Noor belonged to the Peacock Throne of Mughal Emperors that was mined at Kollur Mine, in the present state of Andhra Pradesh. It was originally 793 carats when uncut. Diamond experts around the world named it the Mountain of Light. In 1849, after the British formed the East India Company in India, it was handed over to Queen Victoria. In 1852, Queen Victoria reshaped the Koh-i-Noor diamond and wore it quite often on several occasions. It's currently placed in the Jewel House of the Tower of London. Kohinoor is one of the oldest and most famous diamonds in the world and was kept by the Mughal emperors.

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2. The Ring of Tipu Sultan

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When Tipu Sultan, a ruler of Mysore also known as Tiger of Mysore lost a battle to the British in 1799, the colonists stole his sword and ring from his body. The sword was returned to India, but in 2014 the ring was auctioned by the British for ?145,000. The 41.2g ring was sold to an undisclosed bidder for almost 10 times its estimated price at the auction in central London, according to Christie's website. The jewelled ring is inscribed with the name of Hindu God Ram in raised Devanagari inscribed on it.

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3. Wine Cup of Shah Jahan

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A white jade wine cup belongs to Shah Jahan, the emperor of the Mughal Empire, who made Taj Mahal in honor of his beloved queen. The flower below the jar is a lotus and leaves are acanthus and an animal with a goat and a horn and beard on the handle. In the 19th century a beautiful wine jar was stolen by Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie and sent to Britain. Since 1962 it's placed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

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4. Rosetta Stone

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The Rosetta Stone, is a basalt block 114 cm high and 72 cm wide made by pharaoh Ptolemy of granodiorite, dates back to 196 BC in 3 different Egyptian languages. Napoleon Bonaparte obtained the inscription from Egypt, which was acquired by the British after the defeat of the French army in the early 1800s. During the following decades, Egyptian officials asked Britain to return the Rosetta Stone, but didn't succeed. Therefore, since being brought to England, the Rosetta Stone has been kept and displayed at the British Museum in London.

The Rosetta Stone was instrumental in the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphics by 19th-century French scholar Jean-Fran?ois Champollion as it bears matching inscriptions in hieroglyphic, demotic Egyptian, and Greek scripts, and which was discovered in Egypt's northern town of Rosetta in July 1799 by French officer Pierre-Fran?ois Bouchard during Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt.

The Napoleonic campaign in Egypt and Palestine, which marked the start of modern European colonialism in the Middle East, remains contentious two centuries after the French emperor's death. The Corsican general set sail eastwards with 300 ships in 1798, aiming to conquer Egypt and block a crucial route between Britain and its colonies in India.

5. Seeds of Hevea Brasiliensis

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Henry Wickham, a a British explorer and plant-thief, stole 70,000 seeds from the rubber-bearing tree which can be height of up to 140 feet (43 m), Hevea brasiliensis, in the Santar¨¦m area of Brazil, to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London in 1875. This marked the end of the Amazon rubber boom and a great economic time for Brazil. The man earned the nickname "Bio-Pirate" in the South American country.

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6. Benin Bronzes

Andreas Praefcke via theartnewspaper

Modern-day Nigeria, then known as the Kingdom of Benin, was a proud owner of the 13th-century Bronze Scriptures by artists of the Edo people. After the Benin invasion in 1987, the British stole more than 200 scriptures and put them in museums and the rest found their way to other European museums.

Image credit: Andreas Praefcke via theartnewspaper

7. Ethiopian Manuscripts

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After defeating Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II in the Battle of Magdala in 1869, the British adopted scriptures that were the primary cause of the war. To bring the Manuscripts back to Ethiopia, an association called the Association for the Return of Magdala Ethiopian Treasures was formed. However, nothing good came out of it. This exhibition will display 12 Ethiopian religious manuscripts collected by the British Library, showing the paintings, font art, and religious traditions of the Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia.

8. Elgin Marbles

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In 1803, Lord Elgin took the marble from the 2,500 years old Parthenon Wall to London. Elgin claimed that he took the marble with due permission, unable to substantiate any of his claims by any legal document. Greece has asked the British to return the marbles but they are still in the British Museum. The Athenian Parthenon marbles, 75 meters from the frieze carved under the direction of the Greek sculptor Phidias and other temple metopes, are known in the UK as 'the Elgin marbles' because they were extracted from the monument and brought to the island by the British diplomat.

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9. Amaravati Marbles

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Amaravati marbles are presently on display at the British Museum in London. A collection of 70 pieces depicting India's famed Amravati sculptures was inaugurated at the British Museum in London. Excavated by the British almost 140 years ago, the sculptures were shipped to the UK from Madras in 1859 and were in the basement of the museum for over 30 years.

Image credit: wikimedia

All these valuable things should be returned to their native place. What you think, tell us in the comments.