Orientalism in the American context differs from its better-known British and Continental manifestations in some significant respects. Principal among these is the absence of anything like the centuries-long colonialist projects that rendered the inhabitants of distant lands of either the Near or the Far East as subjects – but not citizens – of Western empire. In this respect, America actually has something in common with India: both were victims of the commercial and imperial ambitions of Great Britain. The shared past probably has something to do with the imaginary attachment certain Americans entertained between themselves and the nations of the Far East: at different periods and in different ways, they believed that something of value might be gained by greater exposure to the political, religious and artistic traditions of China, India and Japan. The Near East not so much: better known today as the Middle East, it was after all the Holy Land, the very fount of Christianity that gave the Puritan settlers the strength and courage they needed to pursue the righteous life in the New World free of the hated strictures of Church and King.