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

Explores how the British Empire responded to the environmental challenges of the world's largest tidal delta.

List of contents

Introduction. Almanac of a tidal basin; Part I. Environmental Consolidations: 1. Power and silt; 2. Drying a delta; Part II. Legal Maneuvers: 3. Notarizing possessions; 4. Commerce in land; Part III. Un-real Estate: 5. Speculative properties; Conclusion: disappearing coastlines.

About the author

Debjani Bhattacharyya is Assistant Professor of History at Drexel University, Philadelphia. She was a Junior Fellow of the American Institute of India Studies, and a former Research Fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden.

Summary

What happens when a distant colonial power tries to tame an unfamiliar terrain in the world's largest tidal delta? This history, which spans from 1760 to 1920, demonstrates how colonial property law and hydraulic engineering transformed the ecology of the Bengal delta to drain Calcutta.

Product details

• Authors: BHATTACHARYY DEBJAN, Debjani Bhattacharyya, Debjani (Drexel University Bhattacharyya
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2018
• EAN: 9781108425742
• ISBN: 978-1-108-42574-2
• No. of pages: 254
• Series: Studies in Environment and History; Studies in Environment and His; Studies in Environment and History
• Subjects: Guides > Nature; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Business administration; NATURE / General, India, Colonialism & imperialism, Environmental Management, Colonialism and imperialism, Asian History, Historical Geology, Historical geology and palaeogeology