Tirthankar Roy

@RoyHistory1 · joined 21 May 2022

Historian, musician

11 493Followers

231Following

1 204Posts total

430.5KViews on collected posts

Derniers posts

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory12 Sep

@RoyHistory1 The drain of wealth was a political slogan crafted as a tool to delegitimise British rule over India. It was not a measure of economic give and take between India and UK. Once history writing got overtaken by politics, teaching DoW became central to teaching history 1.1K views · 11 likes · 0 reposts · 0 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory11 Sep

@RoyHistory1 Sunil Khilnani has written in his 1997 Idea of India that after the 1857 mutiny and end of East India Company rule, Lord Canning was averse to the idea of high taxation and extraction, declaring "I would rather govern India with 40,000 British troops without an incom 3.1K views · 42 likes · 3 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory11 Sep

What gets measured as drain is export surplus. From early-19th c to the Depression, colonial India’s export surplus paid for services like profits on FDI, debt service, admin costs. This was trade, not a vacuum cleaner sucking wealth into London. 18.2K views · 402 likes · 20 reposts · 8 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory11 Sep

To show a real “tribute” element, you must compare payments like debt service to their contribution to national income. Most who tout trillion‑dollar claims can’t do this. Without that basic step, nothing “unrequited” or “drainish” remains, just bookkeeping dressed up as tragedy. 15K views · 363 likes · 11 reposts · 4 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory11 Sep

In a lecture in India (by a scientist) I heard the claim that Britain looted 68.5 tr dollars from India. The old figure of 48 trillion isn’t dramatic enough anymore. And someone added a decimal for extra spice. 91.4K views · 1.2K likes · 127 reposts · 46 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory11 Sep

Repeat a crazy number long enough and it starts sounding true. Activist‑historians use this trick, turning polemic into pseudo‑scholarship. Their jargon, “unrequited transfer,” “tribute,” “drain”, has no analytical value. Nationalists coined these, which modern ideologues recycle 147.8K views · 637 likes · 46 reposts · 4 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory125 Aug

@RoyHistory1 Congratulations Tirthankar, looking forward to reading it! 2.5K views · 7 likes · 1 reposts · 0 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory125 Aug

Rather than relying on broad theories of imperialism, the book examines how colonialism, regional condition, and historical contingencies shaped development and deprivation. It highlights the Empire's enduring yet uneven legacy and the roots of contemporary development challenges 4K views · 76 likes · 6 reposts · 2 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory125 Aug

These consequences varied because local actors, colonial administrations, markets, and geographical conditions shaped how imperial rule operated in practice. A comparative perspective is needed to explain the divergent patterns of growth, inequality, and development taking shape. 1.8K views · 48 likes · 3 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory125 Aug

The book argues that trade, migration, capital flows, and economic integration across the Empire were central to patterns of growth and inequality in Asia, Africa, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. Economic history is essential for understanding colonialism’s long-term consequences. 3.6K views · 70 likes · 7 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory125 Aug

Popular narratives portray the Empire as a coherent and exploitative project. This book offers a fresh examination; emphasising the diversity of experiences, showing how economic outcomes emerged from local conditions, institutions, and interactions rather than an imperial design 5.3K views · 125 likes · 8 reposts · 2 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory125 Aug

Announcing the publication of Leigh Gardner and Tirthankar Roy, The British Empire: An Economic History (London: Polity). Available for pre-order at https://t.co/WbC5iZCn4o https://t.co/T1vNNhREo6

109.8K views · 968 likes · 183 reposts · 29 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory110 Aug

Announcing the publication of Ewout Frankema and Tirthankar Roy, eds., Routledge Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism. https://t.co/BBL3uJhcF3. https://t.co/5iECBQZl3k

19.5K views · 337 likes · 65 reposts · 4 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory129 Jul

Reading now: Anglo-India and the End of Empire, by Uther Charlton-Stevens, London: Hurst, 2022. Also of interest: Charleton-Stevens, Anglo-Indians and Minority Politics in South Asia, Routledge, 2018. https://t.co/G8RdUAA1J8

5K views · 119 likes · 18 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

Tirthankar Roy@RoyHistory19 Jul

The way empire is taught in schools across the UK is a subject of national debate. Discussing a project designed to link academic research to classrooms, Tirthankar Roy talks to Sophie Mallett about how economic history can reveal diverse perspectives on the British Empire. 2.4K views · 27 likes · 3 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

Face aux comptes de taille comparable

15 posts des 90 derniers jours, à côté de la tranche de 10K–100K abonnés. diffusé à plus de monde que les comptes de taille comparable.

Vues médianes4 990ce compte995médiane pour 10K–100K

Portée, %43.42%ce compte3.59%médiane pour 10K–100K

Engagement, %2.10%ce compte1.92%médiane pour 10K–100K

Indicateur	Ce compte	Médiane pour 10K–100K	Rapport
Vues médianes par post	4 990	995	5.02×
Portée (vues ÷ abonnés)	43.42%	3.59%	12.1×
Taux d'engagement	2.10%	1.92%	1.09×

Autres comptes de cette tranche → Comparer avec un autre compte → Comment ces repères sont établis →

Growth & engagement

How the posts we collected actually performed: views and reaction rate post by post, what the audience did with them, and where the follower count goes.

Views per post

5K29 Jul

19.5K10 Aug

109.8K25 Aug

5.3K

3.6K

1.8K

2.5K

147.8K1 Sep

91.4K

15K

18.2K

3.1K

1.1K2 Sep

Last 14 collected posts, oldest on the left. The scale is logarithmic: one post can outrun the rest a hundred times over.

Engagement rate per post

2.77%29 Jul

2.10%10 Aug

1.11%25 Aug

2.54%

2.17%

2.84%

2.13%

0.32%

0.47%1 Sep

1.57%

2.52%

2.37%

1.50%

1.04%2 Sep

Reactions — likes, reposts, replies and quotes — divided by views. Median for 10K–100K accounts is 1.92%.

What the audience does

Likes70.0%4 463 in total

Reposts7.9%501 in total

Replies1.6%104 in total

Quotes1.2%78 in total

Bookmarks19.3%1 229 in total

Share of every reaction we collected for this account. Replies mean argument, reposts mean endorsement, bookmarks mean the post was worth keeping.

Followers by day

9 Sep

Daily snapshots since 09 Sep 2026; the dashed line is the starting count.

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Views per post

Engagement rate per post

What the audience does

Followers by day

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