Interesting that you brought it up.
Ironically, it was India that was probably ahead of other civilizations way earlier than 1500s.
Then history happened.
And then finally Europeans happened - the same Europeans who invented "individual rights, scientific enlightenment, and all that".
And what was their effect? Governance that, while not fully democratic, was less capricious than that which preceded it. A dampening of some of the worst effects of the caste system. Fewer women burning on pyres. A national language that's internationally prominent, which India has reaped enormous economic benefits from even as the country's leaders deny its value for political reasons (and suppress the poor and entrench their own position by promoting regional languages, while sending their own children to english-speaking schools).
It's fashionable to pretend that colonialism was nothing but evil European exploitation. But the reality is that many of the people at the bottom saw great benefits (and conversely the mother country rarely if ever saw a return on investment).
Please show me where I said that. My point was more towards associating Europeans with "individual rights, scientific enlightenment, and all that".
Of course there were benefits, and some were very important one. But let's not pretend it was purely humanitarian, or just for the benefits of the locals.
I'd strongly suggest you find historical records of The East India company and it's ledgers - the unholy amount of money the English siphoned out of India was an eyeopener to me. Until then, I too believed that colonization was good.
I am not even going into the details of separation of the country, the manner in which it was done, and the massacre that followed.