How different would have India's fate been if the Spanish had colonized it instead of the British?

如果殖民印度的是西班牙人而非英国人，印度的命运会有多大不同？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Dr. Balaji Viswanathan

Spain would not have lasted long in India and India would have been quickly independent.

Spain won over the Latin America primarily because of the small pox. By the time they reached most parts of Americas the native populations had mostly died out due to the diseases carried by these foreigners. Having horses and steel swords also helped win over the remaining natives.

Indians were more immune to the old world diseases than the Spanish. Had the Spaniards come to India the situation might have been the other way around. The conquistadors would have died of diseases and poor weapons.

西班牙在印度的殖民不会持续太久，印度会很快取得独立。

西班牙攻占拉丁美洲主要是因为天花。当西班牙人到达美洲大部分地区时，他们携带的疾病让土著居民几乎灭绝，马匹和钢剑也帮助他们征服了剩下的土著。

相较于西班牙人，印度人对旧世界的疾病更为免疫。如果西班牙人来到印度，情况可能会完全相反，西班牙征服者自己会死于疾病和原始的武器。

Even if they had won, they would have tried imposing Christianity. One thing that would get a calm India to riot mad is having people’s religious beliefs touched and the Spaniards would have had hell!

Mauryan empire didn’t last well past Ashoka as many didn’t like the empire spreading a religion. Pushyamitra Shunga rebelled against Buddhist imposition and ended the Mauryan empire. Same way, Mughal empire didn’t last well past Aurangzeb due to the Islam imposition. You won’t survive long if you try to alter the religious ideas of India.

就算西班牙人赢了，他们也会强行推广基督教。这件事会让平静的印度发生暴乱，因为西班牙人触碰了印度人的宗教信仰，西班牙人绝不会有好下场！

孔雀帝国在阿育王之后并没有持续很久，因为很多人不喜欢帝国传播宗教。普希密特拉·顺迦反抗佛教的压迫，结束了孔雀王朝。同样，由于强行推广YSL教，莫卧儿帝国在奥朗泽布之后也很快衰败。如果你试图改变印度人的宗教信仰，那也快活到头了。

The reason the British succeeded was because they came not for conquest but for trade and thus didn’t raise any alarm bells with the natives. Like the proverbial frog in hot water, India was slowly consumed rather than attacked.

More importantly, the British don’t follow the Catholic church and were not as evangelical as other Europeans. This allowed them to stay out of trouble with Indian religions. Thus, Indians found little reason for a revolution.

英国人之所以成功，是因为他们并非为了征服而来，他们是为了贸易而来的，所以他们没有引起当地人的警觉。就如同俗话所说的温水煮青蛙，印度是被英国人慢慢蚕食吞并的。

更重要的是，英国人不信奉天主教，也不像其他欧洲人那样信奉福音派，他们没有卷入印度宗教的泥潭。因此，印度人找不到革命的理由。

Mark Vashmel

Firstly there is a extremely slim chance Spain could have successfully colonized India , The Mughal Empire was more or less as strong as the Spanish Empire and would almost certainly won if Spain invaded , the British colonized India successfully because they used the divide and conquer tactics and besides that they Slowey colonized india through companies such as the east Indian company and eventually annexed the divided india .

首先，西班牙成功殖民印度的可能性非常小，莫卧儿帝国的实力可以和西班牙帝国抗衡，如果西班牙入侵，莫卧儿帝国胜券在握。英国之所以能成功殖民印度是因为他们采用了分而治之的策略，此外，他们通过东印度公司等公司一步步殖民印度，最终吞并了四分五裂的印度。

Spain would have sailed to India with Catholic Missionaries like they did in The Americas and would have gave them the same options they have the Mayans , Tlaxcalans and Incas “Covert or Die” ,India would have instantly saw Spain as a threat and unlike the much more primitive Native Americans who also declined in large numbers due to illness bought from europe , India would have used its home turf advantage and used guerilla warfare against Spain and the Spaniards would have caught illness in India such as malaria , the spaniards would have had to retreat and the conquest would have probably ended in a peace treaty with both empires agreeing to trade gold , silver and other riches.

西班牙会照搬他们在美洲的经验，和天主教传教士一起航行到印度，给印度人一个和玛雅人，特拉斯卡兰人和印加人一样的选择："要么归顺要么死亡"。印度会把西班牙视为威胁，印度不会像被欧洲入侵者携带的疾病打败的美洲土著，印度会利用自己的地理优势，对西班牙发动游击战，西班牙人自己倒可能在印度感染疟疾等疾病，被迫撤退。西班牙的入侵可能会以签订某个和平条约告终，两个帝国同意进行金银和其他财富的贸易。

However assuming that Spain successfully conquered India like the British did , honestly India today would have been very boring , Spain was overall much less tolerant to other religions and other cultures than Britain was , under the British , they did there best to help restore Pre-Mughal Islamic cultural influence and basically restored India to what it was Pre-Mughal conquest including restoring Hinduism and other elements of Ancient and Pre-Mughal India.

如果西班牙真的像英国那样成功地征服了印度，老实说，今天的印度将非常无聊，总体而言西班牙对其他宗教和文化的容忍度比英国低得多。在英国的统治下，英国人尽了最大努力恢复莫卧儿统治前的YSL文化影响，基本上恢复了印度在莫卧儿统治前的模样，包括印度教、莫卧儿统治前和统治期内的印度元素。

Spain would have destroyed the culture and religion of India , Spain would have forced Indian Hindus to convert to Catholicism , The Spaniards would have replaced the local language from Hindi to Spanish or at the very least have Spanish as a secondary language , The Spaniards would have most likely mixed with some degree with Indian Women most likely through forced marriages or for lack of better term , Rape and there would likely be some kind of caste system and some ‘Mestizo’ caste like what happened in Latin America however more than likely the Spaniards probably would have converted the population to Catholicism and then would have left them alone like with the Philippines , there would also be mass slaughter and possibly genocide.

西班牙会摧毁印度的文化和宗教，强迫印度教徒皈依天主教，把当地的印地语换成西班牙语或者至少把西班牙语当做第二语言，还很可能通过强迫婚姻或强奸与印度妇女通婚，造出某种种姓制度和一些‘混血’种姓。不过西班牙人更有可能会让印度人皈依天主教，就像菲律宾一样放任不管，也可能会进行大规模屠杀，甚至发生种族灭绝的暴行。

Traditional Indian culture would have been replaced with Hispanic culture , India would have not only adopted the Catholic Faith but also would have adopted Spanish Cuisine , Architecture and Culture much like in the Philippines and would have Western/Spanish Names .

传统的印度文化会被西班牙文化取代，印度不但会接受天主教信仰，还会像菲律宾一样吸纳西班牙的美食、建筑和文化，给自己起一些西式/西班牙的名字。

Eventually Spain would have had to give up India as they would have lost the Spanish-American War and India most likley would have been handed over to the USA much like Guam , the Philippines , Puerto Rico and Cuba and it would have gained independence Sonner than originally , however this would not have been good as a much more brutal force than Spain , Britain or USA would have went after India which would be Imperial Japan , while i doubt imperial Japan could have annexed India with its high population , i think it would have done major genocides , something equal to the Nanking massacre and all kinds of horrific atrocities would have been committed like what happened to The Philippines , China and Korea.

最终西班牙可能会被迫放弃印度，他们在美西战争大败，印度极有可能会像关岛、菲律宾、波多黎各和古巴那样，被美国接管，印度也可能因此能更早独立。但我怀疑日本帝国会吞并人口众多的印度并进行惨无人寰的种族灭绝，就像日本在菲律宾、中国和韩国犯下的罪行一样。

In short Spain would have most likely been worse for India overall , Indian Culture would have probably been very altered and probably would be very different from Indian culture as we know it today , Hinduism would have been a dead religion and would be replaced with Christianity just like how Christianity replaced Mesoamerican Polytheism , Incan Polytheism , Anitism , Bathalism and various other Indigenous religions that would be either extinct like Latin America today or would be very rare like Native Filipino Religion that only makes up 2% of the total religious population in the Philippines.

简而言之，西班牙很可能会对印度整体造成更大的影响，印度文化可能会发生翻天覆地的改变，很可能会与我们今天所知的印度文化截然不同，印度教可能已经消亡，被基督教取代。

India would have left colonial rule Sonner but without Britain stop Japan , Imperial Japan would have most likely attacked and done big damage to India much like The Philippines today , India would be a middle income country that would be poorer than it is today if India develops anything like the Philippines .

如果不是英国阻挠日本，日本帝国很可能早就攻打印度并给印度造成极大破坏。如果印度变成菲律宾那样的国家，印度会成为一个中等收入国家，但比现在穷。

Sameer Haldavanekar

Related

What would India be like if it was colonized by the Spanish or Portuguese?

If India was indeed colonized by Spanish or Portuguese, we wouldn't have been much different than what we are today. Except instead of English we’d be using either Spanish or Portuguese.

Religion is a touchy subject in India, and anyone who tries to enforce his or her view on the population faces a tremendous backlash.

如果印度被西班牙或葡萄牙殖民，现在会是什么样子？

如果印度真的被西班牙或葡萄牙殖民过，我们也不会和今天有太大不同。除了英语之外，我们还会使用西班牙语或葡萄牙语。

在印度，宗教是一个敏感的话题，任何试图将自己的宗教强加给民众的人都会面临巨大的反噬。

The over zealous Islamist emperor Aurangzeb in his attempt to islamize India, weakened the Mughal empire by constant wars and battles. His zeal proved to be the first nail in the coffin of the Mughals. And kindly correct me if I am wrong, the Mughal empire was far more powerful militarily and financially than either the Portuguese or the Spanish at the time.

The British must have noticed that and perhaps that's why they kept away from such things.

狂热的奥朗泽布曾经试图将印度YSL化，他不断发动战争，大大削弱了莫卧儿帝国的国力。他就是钉在莫卧儿王朝棺材上的第一颗钉子。莫卧儿帝国当时在军事和财政上都比葡萄牙或西班牙强大得多，如果我说错了，欢迎大家指正。

英国人一定注意到了这一点，也许这就是他们远离这些东西的原因。

Also note the Portuguese did rule Goa for sizable period of time (450 years) and yet could not manage to entirely convert the native population of the region to Christianity. There was always a back and forth movement of people between religions (Hindus still constitute 66% of Goan population).

So in conclusion apart from a different foreign language nothing else would have been different.

还要注意的是，葡萄牙人确实在果阿统治过相当长的时间(450年)，但却无法让该地区的土著居民完全皈依基督教。人们总是在宗教之间来回摇摆(印度教徒仍然占果阿邦人口的66%)。

所以，总而言之，除了多一门外语，应该没有什么其他不同。

Joyson Fernandes

Related

What would India be like if it was colonized by the Spanish or Portuguese?

Thank goodness that it was the British who ruled over India, and not the Spanish or Portuguese. India’s cultural and religious diversity is what I love the most about it. That’s what makes India so interesting and colorful. Most Indians cherish that diversity. I love Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Sikhs. I wouldn’t prefer it otherwise, because that would make India boring. A garden looks more beautiful if it has a diverse variety of flowers than if it were just one kind.

India would have really sucked if it were a more homogenous Hispanic or Lusophone country with a majority Roman Catholic population. The last thing this world needs is another such country.

如果印度被西班牙或葡萄牙殖民，会是什么样子？

谢天谢地，当初统治印度的是英国人，而非西班牙人或葡萄牙人。我最喜欢印度的文化和宗教多样性。这正式印度引人入胜、多姿多彩的原因。大多数印度人珍视这种多样性。我爱印度教徒、佛教徒、msl和锡克教徒。如果印度被西班牙殖民，我会感到失望的，因为印度会变得很无聊。一个花园如果开满各色花朵，远比只有一种花更漂亮。

如果印度变成单调乏味的西班牙语或葡萄牙国家，大多数人口都是罗马天主教徒，那印度真的会很糟糕。这个世界最不需要的就是再多一个这样的国家。

Alex Nikov

Related

What would India be like if it was colonized by the Spanish or Portuguese?

All people should speak Spanish and Portuguese

Roman Catholic would be the dominance religion; destruction of Hindu temples, mosques, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist sites

Mass unrests and the anti-colonial forces would turn into a war. And might be Mahatma Gandhi would have never been known.

Separation of India would come bloodier and un-usual

Football/soccer would take charge unlike cricket

Mass assimilation and genocide

For which reasons after all, look on Latin America too. I guess, this is what I believe, could be India’s future if the Spaniards or Portuguese involve to there

如果印度被西班牙或葡萄牙殖民，会是什么样子？

所有人都会说西班牙语和葡萄牙语。

罗马天主教会变成印度的主流宗教；印度教寺庙、清真寺、锡克教、耆那教和佛教场所都会被毁损殆尽。

大规模的动乱和反殖民势力会升级成战争。也许就不会出现圣雄甘地了。

印度的种族隔离将演变得更加血腥。

足球会抢去板球的风头。

种族同化和种族灭绝。

我们看看拉丁美洲就能明白。我相信，如果西班牙人或葡萄牙人插手，这些可能就是印度的未来。