Empire and Ecology in the Bengal Delta: The Making of Calcutta

260 Pages·2018·6.89 MB·English

by  Debjani Bhattacharyya

Empire and Ecology in the Bengal Delta
Whathappenswhenadistantcolonialpowertriestotameanunfamiliar
terrain in the world’s largest tidal delta? This history of dramatic
ecological changes in the Bengal Delta from 1760 to 1920 involves
land, water and humans, tracing the stories and struggles that link
them together. Pushing beyond narratives of environmental decline,
Bhattacharyya argues that “property-thinking,” a governing tool crit-
ical in making land and water discrete categories of bureaucratic and
legal management, was at the heart of colonial urbanization and the
technologies behind the draining of Calcutta. The story of ecological
changeisnarratedalongsideemergentpracticesoflandspeculationand
transformation in colonial law. Bhattacharyya demonstrates how this
history continues to shape our built environments with devastating
consequences,asshownintheBayofBengal’srecedingcoastline.
  is an assistant professor of history at
DrexelUniversity.ShewasajuniorfellowoftheAmericanInstituteof
IndiaStudiesandaformerresearchfellowattheInternationalInstitute
ofAsianStudies,Leiden.
Studies inEnvironment and History
Editors
J.R.McNeill,GeorgetownUniversity
EdmundP.Russell,BostonUniversity
EditorsEmeritus
AlfredW.Crosby,UniversityofTexasatAustin
DonaldWorster,UniversityofKansas
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Empire and Ecology in the Bengal Delta
The Making of Calcutta
DEBJANI BHATTACHARYYA
DrexelUniversity
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridge28,UnitedKingdom
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108425742
:10.1017/9781108348867
©DebjaniBhattacharyya2018
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Firstpublished2018
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978-1-108-42574-2Hardback
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Contents
List of Figures pageix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Almanac of aTidalBasin 1
   
1 Power and Silt 45
2 Drying the Delta 77
   
3 Notarizing Possessions 111
4 Commerce in Land 140
   
5 SpeculativeProperties 169
Conclusion: Disappearing Coastlines 201
Glossary 205
Bibliography 207
Index 235
vii