Perceptions of India in the Nineteenth Century

New Zealand’s British settlers in the early to mid-nineteenth century took a strong interest in India through the commonality of both being a colony within the British Empire. New Zealanders shared the British view that indigenous peoples in India were ‘barbaric’ and ‘uncivilised’ and it was never doubted that British rule benefitted the indigenous people. Uprisings by Indians against British rule were seen in New Zealand as providing lessons for New Zealand in how it should treat its indigenous population, Māori.