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.

Debjani Bhattacharyya (Author)

9781108443340, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 June 2019

257 pages, 4 b/w illus. 6 maps
23 x 15.3 x 1.4 cm, 0.4 kg

'… Debjani Bhattacharyya's innovative, ecologically minded study takes the mobile character of the Bengal Delta as its central dynamic and aligns this with an unfolding narrative of land, law and profit … Bhattacharyya builds an effective lineage for modern India's 'technologies of property' and makes a case for Calcutta that is both unique and yet highly relevant to imperilled deltas and endangered wetlands around the globe.' David Arnold, The English Historical Review

What happens when a distant colonial power tries to tame an unfamiliar terrain in the world's largest tidal delta? This history of dramatic ecological changes in the Bengal Delta from 1760 to 1920 involves land, water and humans, tracing the stories and struggles that link them together. Pushing beyond narratives of environmental decline, Bhattacharyya argues that 'property-thinking', a governing tool critical in making land and water discrete categories of bureaucratic and legal management, was at the heart of colonial urbanization and the technologies behind the draining of Calcutta. The story of ecological change is narrated alongside emergent practices of land speculation and transformation in colonial law. Bhattacharyya demonstrates how this history continues to shape our built environments with devastating consequences, as shown in the Bay of Bengal's receding coastline.

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.

Subject Areas: Urban & municipal planning [RPC], Environmental management [RNF], Historical geology [RBGF], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Asian history [HBJF]