Mapping an Empire
Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843
Published on 2. September 1997
Book
Hardback
474 pages
978-0-226-18487-6 (ISBN)
Description
In this history of the British surveys of India, focusing especially on the Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) understaken by the British East India Company, the author relates how imperial Britain employed modern scientific survey techniques not only to create and define the spacial inmage of its Indian empire, but also to legitimate its colonialist activities as triumphs of liberal, rational science bringing "Civilisation" to irrational, mystical and despotic Indians. The reshaping of cartographic technologies in Europe into their modern form played a key role in the use of the GTS as an instrument of British cartographic control over India. In analyzing this reconfiguration, the author undertakes a detailed critical analysis of the foundations of modern cartography.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
37 halftones, 9 tables
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 160 mm
Weight
930 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-18487-6 (9780226184876)
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05/2024
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Content
List of Illustrations and Maps List of Tables Preface Note on East India Company Coinage Places Mentioned in the Text: Southern India and Northern India Chronology of Events and the Expansion of the East India Company Ch. 1: The Ideologies and Practices of Mapping and Imperialism Ch. 2: Observation and Representation Ch. 3: Surveying and Mapmaking Ch. 4: Structural Constraints of the East India Company's Administration Ch. 5: Cartographic Anarchy and System in Madras, 1790-1810 Ch. 6: Institutions for Mapping All of British India, 1814-23 Ch. 7: Triangulation, the Cartographic Panacea, 1825-32 Ch. 8: The Final Compromise: Triangulation and Archive, 1831-43 Ch. 9: Scientific Practice: Incorporating the Rationality of Empire Ch. 10: Cartographic Practice: Inscribing an Imperial Space Biographical Notes Notes Unpublished Primary Sources, by Archive Published Primary Sources Secondary Sources Relating to the British Surveys in India Principal Secondary Sources Index