Unpacked by AFAR · Friday, September 4, 2026
Sana Javeri Kadri highlights the profound economic and cultural impact of colonialism on South Asia, estimating that approximately $50 trillion in wealth was stolen. She argues that this historical exploitation extended to cultural theft, erasing knowledge about the origins and best uses of spices like black pepper.
“The basics of what colonialism did is it robs us of money and capital, right? So the number of, I didn't know that India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka used to be the richest region in the world, pre-colonization.”
“The value of what was stolen from those regions, you could include, you know, Nepal, Myanmar, etcetera, was about $50 trillion dollars in today's money.”
“So we know of the financial theft from South Asia, but I don't think what we, what we miss is the cultural theft, right? So when black pepper stopped being traded freely, um, and started being controlled, any understanding of black pepper that they were growing for flavor, um, was actually willfully erased from the archives because the traders made more money.”