RE: Exploring a 259-Year-Old British Cemetery at Calcutta 🇮🇳 For c/Tombstone Tourism by @grindle

who these people were

Wealthy enough to construct a 10-or-so-meter monument over their graves at the super central cemetery, lol.

They colonised the place for over 250 years

Colonialism was a conquest, and a conquest isn't a fair thing and many people suffered and died, but British also created a lot from scratch. They started such big places as Bombay (Mumbai), Kolkata, Singapore, Hong Kong, and many others. Created a railway network in India, which is still in use. Constructed roads, bridges and hydropower stations which are still in use. They brought education to each distant place on Earth as well as medicine. What is more important, Britain brought the traditions of governing and the basics of liberalism to mostly Medieval nations of Asia. Thus, the British Empire was an accelerator unlike, let's say, the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans or the Timurids (who just pillaged occupied cities), etc. I am not British (obviously, considering my habit to use wrong prepositions and articles, lol) but I respect the history and input of this Empire. Good that this era ended but I appreciate this period of history.

Those surgeons died at relatively early ages, around their 60s seems young

Young for 2026, the time of fans, AC, antibiotics, lol. On Penang Island's colonial cemetery, they have like 30% of graves belonging to people below 30 - malaria mostly.

vampire

A vast vintage cemetery with huge mausoleums closed after sunset... That'd be clearly elite airbnb district for them, lol, if they existed.

Thank you!