In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, company officials and professional artists played an important role in collecting and disseminating knowledge about India – an activity central to British imperialism. The discovery and definition of vegetation and fauna helped the Company’s mission of exploiting lucrative raw materials and furthering scientific research. Sketching was a quick and… Read more »
This book contains observation on Indian customs as well as accounts of sports as practiced by natives from the years before 1801. It attempts to document different methods of hunting in the subcontinent and gives details on the differences that existed between practices in various districts and regions. This edition, the second, of the book… Read more »
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, company officials and professional artists played an important role in collecting and disseminating knowledge about India – an activity central to British imperialism. The discovery and definition of vegetation and fauna helped the Company’s mission of exploiting lucrative raw materials and furthering scientific research. Sketching was a quick and… Read more »
The 18th and 19th centuries saw many visits from British artists to India. They travelled everywhere and stayed with royal families. Before the lithographic press was invented, artists collaborated with engravers and woodcutters to get portraits engraved and then printed. This is an engraving of a portrait of Prince Fakhr-ud Din Mirza, the eldest son… Read more »
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 »
“Oriental Field Sports being a complete, detailed, and accurate VISUAL DESCRIPTION of the wild sports of the East and exhibiting, in a novel and interesting manner, the natural history of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger … and other undomesticated animal…“, as the long title suggests, is a rare book accounting detailed descriptions of the… Read more »
“Oriental Field Sports being a complete, detailed, and accurate VISUAL DESCRIPTION of the wild sports of the East and exhibiting, in a novel and interesting manner, the natural history of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger … and other undomesticated animal…“, as the long title suggests, is a rare book accounting detailed descriptions of the… Read more »
The East India Company (EIC) had established themselves in the village town called ‘Madrasapattam’ (now Chennai) in 1639-1640. This became the first major English settlement in India. In 1687, Aurangzeb’s conquest of Golconda and Bijapur led to the introduction of silver coins in southern India. The EIC sought permission from the Mughal Empire to mint… Read more »
This image shows the Armenian Ghat by the Hooghly River. It is said to have been built in 1734 by Manvel Hazaar Maliyan, an Armenian Trade merchant. The Armenians came to Bengal in the 16th century CE, during the Mughal rule, for commercial purposes and established a settlement much before the British East India Company… Read more »
This view looks east from across the Maidan and the Chowringhee road with a clear landscape of the public buildings and private houses. Chowringhee Road was one of the Maidan’s major streets, and one of Calcutta’s broadest avenues. It was almost two miles in length and about eighty feet in width, with houses on one… Read more »
This view looks north-west from the Ochterlony Monument across the maidan towards the Government House and building along the Esplanade row. The image also captures other important buildings partly visible in the background, such as the General Post Office, the Writers’ Building, and St. John’s Church. In the 1760s, the establishing years of the East… Read more »
‘Sketches illustrating the manner of customs of Indians and Anglo Indians drawn on stone from the original drawings from life by William Tayler esq.’ is a collection of six lithographs published in London in 1842. It portrays the luxurious everyday lives of Anglo-Indians in great detail while also depicting aspects of Bengali village life. It… Read more »
This picture shows the north side of the vast open space, known as the Maidan, in the centre of Calcutta, bordered by Chowringhee Road. The Maidan is surrounded by the city’s main public buildings, such as the Government House, on the far left behind the Ochterlony Monument, now called the Shahid Minar. Open spaces were… Read more »
This picture shows a view of the famous vast-spreading Banyan tree at the Botanical Garden, situated on the west bank of the Hooghly river in Calcutta. The garden was established in 1787 as “Company Bagan” by Colonel Robert Kyd, a horticulture enthusiast, who worked as the secretary of the Military Board at Fort William. Botanist… Read more »
This picture shows a view of Kolkata’s Eden gardens with a pagoda in the background and a bridge over a stream. Overlooking the Hooghly River, Eden Gardens was formally opened to the public in 1840. It was Lord Auckland, the Governor-General (1836-42), and his sisters who conceived the idea of the gardens and assigned the… Read more »
This photo shows a view of the Bandstand and the Burmese Pagoda in Eden Gardens from across Strand Road in Kolkata. It was Lord Auckland, the Governor-General (1836-42), and his sisters who conceived the idea of Eden Gardens around the northern periphery of Fort William and assigned the responsibility of planning it to Civil Architect… Read more »
This picture shows the Calcutta High Court building on West Esplanade Row, as seen from across the street. In 1726 the East India Company created the Mayor’s Court, which was a court of record, to settle civil disputes. Consequently, English criminal law was also adopted and quarterly meetings were held by the Governor and five… Read more »
This photograph shows the view from the north end of Chowringhee Road, beside the carriage stand, looking north-west across the Dharmatala Tank, towards the façades of the houses along Esplanade Row. The Government House is on the extreme left. The flat-fronted building with a verandah, located behind the premises of William Coish & Co is… Read more »
This picture shows Kolkata’s Writers’ building facing the northern side of the square tank known as Lal Dighi. Victory in the June 1757 battle of Plassey opened up a vast majority of Northern India to the British and contributed to the emergence of Calcutta as the Imperial Capital. Fort William, in ruins, had to be… Read more »
In this picture, the General Post Office of Calcutta with its conspicuous lantern topped dome and facade supported by Corinthian pillars is seen overseeing the tank square in the foreground, known as Lal Dighi today. In 1766, Robert Clive introduced a system where zamindars and landholders were held responsible for the supply of runners to… Read more »