Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843 (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Imperialism and mapmaking interest in the most basic manner..." (more)
Key Phrases: cartographic policy, geographic panopticon, geographical archive, Great Trigonometrical Survey, Great Arc, East India Company (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mapping an Empire is a marvelous manifestation of the interconnectedness of things. On the one hand, it is a book about a specific historical episode in which an unknown area was mapped. Yet in the course of exploring this topic, Matthew Edney touches on a huge variety of historical, cultural, political, and scientific issues. As his opening sentence states, "Imperialism and mapmaking intersect in the most basic manner"; in order to "possess" or even comprehend a territory, one must map it. As he investigates the century-long British effort to "transform a land of incomprehensible spectacle into an empire of knowledge," Edney examines the philosophical and intellectual underpinnings of cartography, maps as power politics, technical aspects of surveying, the arcane operations and internal politics of the British East India Company, and much more. The book is illustrated with beautifully executed maps, charts, and tables, and is annotated with extensive source notes, a bibliography, and an excellent index. Laypeople may find parts of Mapping an Empire dense going, but their perseverance will be rewarded by an illuminating cross- disciplinary study; students of cartography will likely find this book invaluable.

Product Description

In this fascinating history of the British surveys of India, Matthew H. Edney relates how imperial Britain used modern survey techniques to not only create and define the spatial image of its Empire, but also to legitimate its colonialist activities.

"There is much to be praised in this book. It is an excellent history of how India came to be painted red in the nineteenth century. But more importantly, Mapping an Empire sets a new standard for books that examine a fundamental problem in the history of European imperialism."--D. Graham Burnett, Times Literary Supplement

"Mapping an Empire is undoubtedly a major contribution to the rapidly growing literature on science and empire, and a work which deserves to stimulate a great deal of fresh thinking and informed research."--David Arnold, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History

"This case study offers broadly applicable insights into the relationship between ideology, technology and politics. . . . Carefully read, this is a tale of irony about wishful thinking and the limits of knowledge."--Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (September 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226184870
• ISBN-13: 978-0226184876
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,835 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Map Controls the Territory, July 2, 2007

By	C. W. Johnson (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843 (Paperback)

This book is quite tough going for the non-specialist. But it rewards with description of the earlier forms of map-making by plane table, the shift in perception of territory and space from the route map to the triangulated survey map. It gives strong description of history of the British East India Company through its governance and its information system- the flow of descriptive information over the administrative links between India and England. It goes several steps further in conceptual depth than The Great Arc (a more popular and accessible history of the triangulation survey phase of mapping India). The academic theorising detracts from a reading of technology and administration - but the whole book leaves a lasting impression. Place this story of growing systematisation and control through measurement and mapping against the exploits of soldiers and residents, wars and political campaigns, John Masters' great series of novels, and you get a great enlargement of vision of the eighteenth and nineteenth century subcontinent; finish up with Building The Railways of the Raj 1850-1900 [Ian J. Kerr] for another stimulating contrast of the ideologies of economic control and engineering control and development with the imaginary grids and connecting lines made real, and essential to twentieth century India.

8 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Silly Route to India, September 4, 2000

By	James R. Maclean (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This work is really an essay on the philosophy of power, expropriation, and image; it book took a potentially riveting topic, with ample documentation, and presented it in a dreary way. The opportunities to make this an enlightening delight were thrown away, in order to support a more recondite argument about the construction of mental geography. The use of figures is excellent, although an inadequate relief from the relentlessly scholastic text. Author Matthew Edney debates Edward Said, et al, in the precise role map-making had in the subjugation of peoples. Both Said and Edney agree that self-delusion was a by-product of colonial research; Edney argues that the Britons were less successful as researcher-controllers than Said might claim, because of imperfect understanding. This is silly: the economic motivations for colonizing India are obvious; if you want to colonize a place, you need excellent maps. Edney spends 450pages ignoring that, and probing instead European fixations on gathering knowlege as if it were a category of penis-envy. Accounts of early geodesy and cartography are mostly bureacratic; there's very little science here. Unfortunately, this wonderful topic will need to wait for a better book.