Pondicherry Dreaming – Inside French India
How native Tamil and colonial French influences come together in the charming melting pot of Puducherry
Colonialism
The East Indies including more particularly The British Dominions on the Continent of India
This historic paper map entitled ‘The East Indies including more particularly the British Dominions on the Continent of India’, by John Blair ; T. Kitchin, senr. sculpsit., was published by in 1773. It covers India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and portions of Maldives, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Burma, and Indonesia. The map shows features… Read more »
The Residency Palace and C. of Lucknow
Edward Weller’s engraving is part of a series of maps from around the world published in the British Weekly Dispatch newspaper. The city of Lucknow is remembered as the site of prolonged siege during the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion. Weller’s engraving emphasises the dividing lines within the recently acquired settlement, highlighting the separation of the British… Read more »
India (Northern Part)
This map titled ‘India (northern Part)’ highlights the northern divisions of territory into presidencies and native states. The Bengal Presidency is marked in red including the lieutenant-governorships of the North-West provinces, Oudh, Punjab and Central Provinces; Bombay Presidency is marked in green, Madras in Yellow and native states in orange. After significant territorial acquisitions were… Read more »
Koninkryk van Bengale (Kingdom of Bengal)
This map by Dutch publisher Pieter van der Aa is from his book, Royaumma de Grand Mogol, published in Paris in 1729. It is based on William Baffin’s map, ‘INDOISTANI A Description of East India, conteyninge th’ Empire of The Great Mogoll,’ that was published in 1619. Baffin’s map was the first modern map of… Read more »
View from Quai Dupleix on the Hougli river, Chandernagore (Chandannagar)
This photograph shows a view of the river Hooghly from Chandannagar’s riverside promenade known today as Strand Road or Strand Promenade. Estimated to have been built primarily in the 19th century, waterfront road was previously named Quai Dupleix after Joseph Francois Dupleix, who prior to serving as the French Indian Governor General, had served as… Read more »
Quai dupleix, Chandernagore (Chandannagar)
This photograph shows a view of Chandannagar’s riverside promenade known today as Strand Road or Strand Promenade. Stretching alongside the Hooghly, the promenade is estimated to have been built primarily in the 19th century, and even today remains an iconic landmark in the city – where residents come to unwind and gaze at the river.… Read more »
Clock Tower and Jail, Chandernagore (Chandannagar)
Pictured here is a clock tower built in 1880 in Chandannagar’s Strand Promenade. Featuring a clock gifted by Joseph Daumain St. Pourcain in 1845, the building served as a police unit and jail, and continues to house the town’s police station to this day. The photograph is among several of 19th century Bengal captured by… Read more »
Strand Promenade, Chandernagore (Chandannagar)
Pictured here is Chandannagar’s wide riverside promenade known as Strand Road or Strand Promenade. Stretching alongside the Hooghly, the promenade is estimated to have been built primarily in the 19th century, and even today remains an iconic landmark in the city – where residents come to unwind and gaze at the river. The photograph is… Read more »
Northern India including the Presidency of Calcutta
This is a decorative, mid-19th century map of Northern India drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin (vignettes by A. H. Wray & J. H. Kernot) and published in John Tallis’s Illustrated Atlas (London & New York: John Tallis & co, c.1851). The Illustrated Atlas, published from 1849 to 1853, was the last decorative world atlas.… Read more »
Carte Du Bengale (Map of Bengal)
This map, Carte Du Bengale, is attributed to Arkstée & Merkus, but it is based on a map by French geographer Loui Brion de la Tour, who also made the Atlas Géneral, Civil et Ecclésiastique’, 1766, and ‘Atlas Général’, 1790-98. The eighteenth century was a time of conflict between the English and French in both… Read more »
Lost Histories
Among the many different communities that were displaced during colonial times were hundreds of Indian ayahs abandoned on British shores between the 18th and 20th centuries – to where they had been brought across oceans for work as nannies. While many of them were able to make their way back to the subcontinent, a lot… Read more »
Who Owns Africa’s Art?
A new major exhibition on the history and heritage of West Africa’s Sahel region has reignited debates around the possession of African art and historical objects. “Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, brings together over 200 works of art from as early… Read more »