This year India will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its independence. This freedom was achieved after 200 years of slavery. Britain plundered India a lot in two centuries. According to an economic study, the British looted about $ 45 trillion from India. Not only India, the British also stole valuable things from other countries. Today in this article we will know about the 9 most expensive things stolen by the British.
1) Kohinoor
A 105.6 metric carat diamond, the Kohinoor weighing 21.6 grams belonged to the peacock throne of the Mughal emperors. Which was mined in the Kollur mine in the present state of Andhra Pradesh. It was originally 793 carats when it was not cut. Diamond experts around the world have named it the Mountain of Light. In 1849, after the British created the East India Company in India, it was handed over to Queen Victoria.
In 1852, Queen Victoria reshaped the Kohinoor diamond and it was worn on many special occasions. It is currently housed in the Jewel House of the Tower of London. Kohinoor is one of the oldest and most famous diamonds in the world.
2) Ring of Tipu Sultan
When Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, was defeated by 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 off by the British for £145,000. According to Christie's website, the 41.2g ring was sold at an auction in central London to an unknown bidder for nearly 10 times its estimated price. The ring of jewels is carved with the name of the Hindu god Rama in Devanagari.
3) Shah Jahan's Wine Cup
The cup of white jade wine belongs to the emperor of the Mughal Empire, Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal in honor of his beloved queen. The flower at the bottom of the jar is a lotus and the leaves are acanthus and an animal with a goat and a horn and a beard. In the 19th century, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie stole a beautiful wine cup and sent it to Britain. Since 1962 it has been kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
4) Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone, a basalt block 114 cm high and 72 cm wide, made by Pharaoh Ptolemy of granodiorite, dated 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, the Egyptian authorities asked Britain to return the Rosetta Stone, but did not succeed. Therefore, since being brought to England, the Rosetta Stone has been kept and displayed at the British Museum in London.
5) Hevea brasiliensis seeds
British explorer Henry Wickham stole 70,000 seeds from a rubber tree that can grow to a height of 140 feet (43 m) from Hevea brasiliensis, the Royal Botanic Garden in the Santarem region of Brazil.
6) Benin Bronze
Modern day Nigeria, formerly known as the Kingdom of Benin, was a master country of 13th-century bronze scriptures by artists from the Edo people. After the invasion of Benin in 1987, the British stole more than 200 scriptures and put them in museums, and the rest found their way into other European museums.
7) Ethiopian Manuscripts
After defeating Emperor Tevodros II of Ethiopia at the Battle of Magdala in 1869, the British adopted the scripture that was 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 of it. The exhibition will display 12 Ethiopian religious manuscripts deposited by the British Library showing the paintings, font art and religious traditions of the Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia.
8) Elgin Marbles
In 1803, Lord Elgin took the marble from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon Wall to London. Elgin claimed that he took the marble with due permission, but was 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 removed from the monument and brought to the island by the British was.
9) Amravati Marbles
Amaravati stones are currently displayed in the British Museum in London. A collection of 70 pieces depicting India's famous Amaravati sculptures was inaugurated at the British Museum in London. Excavated by the British about 140 years ago, the statues were shipped from Madras to Britain in 1859 and were in the basement of the museum for more than 30 years.