india acquired gun technology through portuguese traders before the british arrived. they just were at 1400's european quality and soldier equipment rates in the 1700's. japanese managed to nearly match the quality of 1500's and 1600's guns a few years after getting them. with a few new types of gun bits that they independently invented and sometimes a few decades ahead. but if a culture was too behind on metallurgy, lacked the resources, or were too dumb or corrupt they were screwed. india could fight back somewhat but were too politically divided. so the british just used the population as local labor to extract resources.
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