Mapping an Empire

The Geographical Construction of British India 1765-1843. There are two parts to this history of the British surveys of India. First the author presents a detailed survey of cartographic techniques in the 18th and early 19th centuries and the institutional structures of the East India Company. Then there is an analysis of the importance of mapping to the British Empire, not just to define it spatially but also to give it legitimacy. Draws extensively upon the records of the British East India Company and other primary sources. "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