Synopses & Reviews
How did the British come to conquer South Asia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? Answers to this question usually start in northern India, neglecting the dramatic events that marked Britainandrsquo;s contemporaneous subjugation of the island of Sri Lanka. In Islanded, Sujit Sivasundaram reconsiders the arrival of British rule in South Asia as a dynamic and unfinished process of territorialization and state building, revealing that the British colonial project was framed by the islandandrsquo;s traditions and maritime placement and built in part on the model they provided.and#160;Using palm-leaf manuscripts from Sri Lanka to read the official colonial archive, Sivasundaram tells the story of two sets of islanders in combat and collaboration. He explores how the British organized the process of andldquo;islandingandrdquo;: they aimed to create a separable unit of colonial governance and trade in keeping with conceptions of ethnology, culture, and geography. But rather than serving as a radical rupture, he reveals, islanding recycled traditions the British learned from Kandy, a kingdom in the Sri Lankan highlands whose customsandmdash;from strategies of war to views of natureandmdash;fascinated the British. Picking up a range of unusual themes, from migration, orientalism, and ethnography to botany, medicine, and education, Islanded is an engaging retelling of the advent of British rule.
Review
andldquo;
Islanded makes a critical contribution to our understanding of South Asian and Indian ocean history and provides a novel lens through which to review both the British taking of and departure from India. Using a wealth of colonial and indigenous documents, Sujit Sivasundaramandrsquo;s intriguing argument is that during the first phase of their rule, the British undertook an unfinished process of severing or andlsquo;partitioningandrsquo; Sri Lanka from the mainland, so emphasizing its Buddhist and Sinhala character.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Islanded weaves an elegantly crafted, nuanced account of the recycling and appropriations of knowledges, as well as the movement of peoples, in Sri Lanka and beyond in the early nineteenth century. It firmly entrenches Sri Lankan historiography in the transnational moment, inserting it in wider circles while at the same time andlsquo;partitioningandrsquo; it from the dominant Indian frame. The writing is engaging and lucid, a rare quality nowadays. A wonderful read that calls into question many assumptions on the nature of colonial domination.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Sujit Sivasundaramandrsquo;s Islanded is one of the most important historical studies on Sri Lanka on the early colonial period. It deals with the British advent toand#160;Sri Lanka in the context of the countryandrsquo;s recent past and its strategic location in the Indian Ocean. It is not simply about governors and rulers and their doings but rather, as the Walrus said, about andlsquo;shoes and ships and sealing-waxandrsquo;andmdash;or, to put it differently, about peoples, places, traders, and such things in the island colony. Islanded is an imperative read for those of us interested in the colonial period in Sri Lanka and South Asia in general.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;Islanded, with its welcome range, . . . will be an important resource for scholars of the early years of British colonialism in Ceylon.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;[A] fascinating examination of the relationship of kingdom of Kandy with the British colonial process. . . . [P]rovides rich material not just for historians of Sri Lanka, but for comparison on the manifestations of colonialism from a variety of viewpoints.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Sivasundaramand#8217;s elegantly crafted and nuanced account of the early phase of British rule in Sri Lanka offers a new approach to this period. Rather than following the conventional narrative about transition, he shows us how transition is shaped by past practices and constrained by context. . . .
Islanded provides an important contribution not only to South Asian studies, but also to Indian Ocean and colonial history. It is accessible and engaging and deserves a wide readership.and#8221;and#160;
Review
andldquo;An extraordinary book. . . . It is at once a fine exposition of how connected histories can be written, a fascinating illustration of the making of spaceandmdash;social and territorialandmdash;and an innovative interpretation of British rule in Sri Lanka. . . . Undoubtedly one of the most important books to come out on connected histories of empire and colony in the Indian Ocean.andrdquo;
Synopsis
In this fascinating history of the British surveys of India, Matthew H. Edney relates how imperial Britain used modern survey techniques to not only create and define the spatial image of its Empire, but also to legitimate its colonialist activities.
Synopsis
In this fascinating history of the British surveys of India, Matthew H. Edney relates how imperial Britain used modern survey techniques to not only create and define the spatial image of its Empire, but also to legitimate its colonialist activities.
"There is much to be praised in this book. It is an excellent history of how India came to be painted red in the nineteenth century. But more importantly, Mapping an Empire sets a new standard for books that examine a fundamental problem in the history of European imperialism."and#8212;D. Graham Burnett, Times Literary Supplement
"Mapping an Empire is undoubtedly a major contribution to the rapidly growing literature on science and empire, and a work which deserves to stimulate a great deal of fresh thinking and informed research."and#8212;David Arnold, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
"This case study offers broadly applicable insights into the relationship between ideology, technology and politics. . . . Carefully read, this is a tale of irony about wishful thinking and the limits of knowledge."and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [409]-436) and index.
About the Author
Sujit Sivasundaram is University Lecturer in World and Imperial History since 1500 and fellow of Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. He is the author of Nature and the Godly Empire: Science and Evangelical Mission in the Pacific, 1795andndash;1850.
Table of Contents
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