Spatial Imaginings in the Age of Colonial Cartographic Reason: Maps, Landscapes, Travelogues in Britain and India

315 Pages·2021·15.144 MB·English

by  Nilanjana Mukherjee

SPATIAL IMAGININGS IN THE
AGE OF COLONIAL
CARTOGRAPHIC REASON
ThisvolumeexploreshowIndiaasageographicalspacewasconstructedbytheBritishcolonialregimein
visualandmaterialterms.Itdemonstratestheinstrumentalisationofculturalartefactssuchaslandscape
paintings,travelliteratureandcartography,asspatialpracticesovertlycarryingscientifictruthclaims,to
materiallyproduceartificialspacesthatreinforcedpowerrelations.Itshedslightontheprimarydom-
inanceofcartographicreasonintheageofEuropeanEnlightenmentwhichframedaestheticandscientific
modesofrepresentationandimagination.Theauthorcross-examinesthisimperialgazeasavisualper-
spectivewhichborethematerialinscriptionsofawilltoassert,possessandcontrol.Thedistinguishing
themeinthisstudyistheproductionofIndiaasanewgeographysourcedfromBritain’sowninteraction
withitsruraloutskirtsanddominationinitsfringes.
Thisbook:
(cid:1) Addresses the concept of “production of space” to study the formulation of a colonial
geographywhichresultedinthebirthofanewplace,lateranation;
(cid:1) InvestigatesagenerativeperiodintheformationofBritishIndiac.1750–1850asacolonialterritory
vis-à-visitsrepresentationandreiterationinBritishmaps,landscapepaintingsandtravelwritings;
(cid:1) BringsGreatBritainandBritishIndiatogetherononeplanenotonlyintermsofthephysicalgeo-
spacesbutalsointheexcavationofcriticaldomainsbyalludingtocriticsfrombothspaces;
(cid:1) SeekstounderstandthepictorialgrammarthatlegitimisedtheexpansiveBritishimperialcar-
tographicgazeasthedominantnarrativewhichmarginalisedallotherexistinglocalideasof
spaceandinhabitation.
Rethinking colonial constructions of modern India, this volume will be of immense interest to
scholarsandresearchersofmodernhistory,culturalgeography,colonialstudies,Englishliterature,
culturalstudies,art,visualstudiesandareastudies.
NilanjanaMukherjeeisAssistantProfessorattheDepartmentofEnglish,ShaheedBhagatSinghCollege,
UniversityofDelhi.HerearlierpublicationsincludeMappingIndia:TransitionsandTransformations
18th–19thCenturies(co-editedwithSutapaDutta,2019).ShehasalsoreceivedtheMeenakshiMukherjee
MemorialPrizefortheyear2014fromtheIndianAssociationofCommonwealthLanguagesandLiterature
forherarticletitled“DrawingRoads/BuildingEmpire:SpaceandCirculationinCharlesD’Oyly’sIndian
Landscapes”publishedinSouthAsia:JournalofSouthAsianStudies,Vol.37.SheisalsoaformerCharles
WallaceIndiaTrustVisitingFellowattheInstituteofAdvancedStudiesintheHumanitiesandCentrefor
SouthAsianStudies,UniversityofEdinburgh,UK.

SPATIAL IMAGININGS IN
THE AGE OF COLONIAL
CARTOGRAPHIC REASON
Maps, Landscapes, Travelogues in
Britain and India
Nilanjana Mukherjee
Firstpublished2021
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CONTENTS
List of figures ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: maps,landscapes,travelogues: spatial articulation andthe
imperial eyes 1
PART I
Cartographic imagination 31
1 Maps: the onset and dominance of cartographic reason 33
2 Mapping India: Rennell and Lambton 65
PART II
Landscapes of control 99
3 Estates, gardens and enclosures: aesthetic framing of British
landscapes 101
4 Framing India: Chinnery and D’Oyly 133
PART III
Narrativising travel 187
5 Place and identity: travel narratives in the making of Britain 189
6 Narrating India: Hodges, Heber, Fraser and Hooker 224
vii
CONTENTS
Postscript 268
Bibliography 275
Index 293
viii
FIGURES
I.1 British Empire Throughout the World Exhibited in One View,
John Bartholomew and Co. c. 1850 23
1.1 John Wallis “Tour Through England and Wales: A New
Geographical Pastime” (1794) 45
1.2 General Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland, 1747–55 50
2.1 Measuringof Calcuttabaselinewith trigpointin the background.
This was the Great Trigonometrical Survey measurement of the
Calcutta baseline by George Everest. It shows a Ramsden chain
being set with tents to prevent expansion from heat 73
2.2 Index Chart to the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India,
showing Lambton’s network of triangulation from southern
India. George Everest later extended the GTS across northern
India and the Gangetic Valley up to the Himalayas 82
3.1 SurveyingScotland:ViewNearLochRannochbyPaulSandby,1749 118
3.2 Surveying Scotland: Party of Six Surveyors, Highlands in Distance
by Paul Sandby, 1750 119
3.3 In Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, Hebrides, Scotland by William Daniell,
part of Voyage Round Great Britain (1813–23) 121
3.4 An earlier reproduction of Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, Hebrides,
Scotland by William Daniell, part of Interesting Selections
(1807–12) 121
3.5 Stage scenery from Omai (1785) by Philippe de Loutherbourg,
inspired by Captain Cook’s journeys to the South Seas 126
4.1 View of Calcutta by William Hodges. Many replications of this
image are to be found with little variations. One such was
probably used as a scenery for Cobb’s play, Love in the East; Or
Adventures of Twelve Hours (1788) performed at the Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane 136
4.2 Poster by Montague Chatterton and Co. advertising Cataract of
the Ganges, or, The Rajah’s Daughter at the Theatre Royal,
Drury Lane (1873) 138
ix