England succeeded at colonization because they were better at finance than France. https://twitter.com/pegobry/status/1307688872172716035
Time and time again, the British were able to insert themselves as powerbrokers in local factional politics by simply being better at paying off debts than their local rivals.
It turns out being a responsible borrower in places where people are generally unreliable will do all kinds of things to local power politics.

As colonizers, it lets you live off the land as opposed to relying on "home" for reinforcements and materiel support.
Follow @InvestorAmnesia, he posts articles about this stuff frequently.
The British entry into India via superior finance is also documented in @DalrympleWill's "The Anarchy". https://twitter.com/kchoudhu/status/1176500709908500481?s=20
And then in Egypt...
^^ From the excellent “The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution” by Peter Hessler.
You can follow @kchoudhu.
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