Transport and Communications in India Prior to Steam Locomotion: Land transport


Book Description

This volume (the first of two) is devoted to the origins, development, and operation of land transport. Deloche first traces the history of ancient roads across the subcontinent from the Himalayas down to South India, and then looks at all aspects of road construction and examines various means of transport. Detailed descriptions are based on data drawn from a large number of varied sources, covering a time period from the early Vedic to the nineteenth century. The text is effectively illustrated with clear, simple and attractive line drawings.




Space and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology


Book Description

The archaeology of space and place is examined in this selection of papers from the 34th annual Chacmool Archaeological Conference.




Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India


Book Description

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has grown in recent years and has played an ever-increasing part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. Spanning the period from the establishment of East India Company rule through to Independence, David Arnold's wide-ranging and analytical survey demonstrates the importance of examining the role of science, technology and medicine in conjunction with the development of the British engagement in India and in the formation of Indian responses to western intervention. One of the first works to analyse the colonial era as a whole from the perspective of science, the book investigates the relationship between Indian and western science, the nature of science, technology and medicine under the Company, the creation of state-scientific services, 'imperial science' and the rise of an Indian scientific community, the impact of scientific and medical research and the dilemmas of nationalist science.




Explorations in Applied Geography


Book Description

Applied geography, a new frontier in geographic discipline, distinguishes itself from other branches of geography through the application of geographical knowledge and its techniques in solving practical problems of the land and the environment. Explorations in Applied Geography is a felicitation volume in honour of Professor L.R. Singh, Department of Geography, University of Allahabad, who has established his international credentials as a leading exponent of Applied Geography. He considers public policy to be one of the applications of applied geographic principles, since many problems facing society today have a geographical dimension. To Professor L.R. Singh, Applied Geography is the strategy of the trinity of men, space and resources which need to be harmonized in advancing human well-being. This volume, contributed by geographers of eminence within the country and from other parts of the globe, focuses on the following thrust areas: • Natural and environmental hazards • Environmental change and management • Challenges of the human environment • Application of techniques of spatial analysis In a nutshell, the book emphasizes the important proactive role that the Applied Geography must play in the formulation of public policies and programmes for sustainable human development. This comprehensive and classic compendium will not only be useful to post-graduate students in geography but also provide new vistas in geographic research.




How India Clothed the World


Book Description

Cloth has always been the most global of all traded commodities. It is an illuminating example of the circulation of goods, skills, knowledge and capital across wide geographic spaces. South Asia has been central to the making of these global exchanges over time. This volume presents innovative research that explores the dynamic ways in which diverse textile production and trade regions generated the first globalization . A series of experts connect this global commodity with the dramatic political and economic transformations that characterised the Indian Ocean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Collectively, the essays transform our understanding of the contribution of South Asian cloth to the making of the modern world economy.




World Military History Bibliography


Book Description

Preclassical and indigenous nonwestern military institutions and methods of warfare are the chief subjects of this annotated bibliography of work published 1967–1997. Classical antiquity, post-Roman Europe, and the westernized armed forces of the 20th century, although covered, receive less systematic attention. Emphasis is on historical studies of military organization and the relationships between military and other social institutions, rather than wars and battles. Especially rich in references to the periodical literature, the bibliography is divided into eight parts: (1) general and comparative topics; (2) the ancient world; (3) Eurasia since antiquity; (4) sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania; (5) pre-Columbian America; (6) postcontact America; (7) the contemporary nonwestern world; and (8) philosophical, social scientific, natural scientific, and other works not primarily historical.




Situating Medieval India


Book Description




Caravans


Book Description

Caravans tells the fascinating story of countless Punjabi Khatri merchants who built great business empires through their ingenuity and spirit of adventure. Operating during the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, these merchants risked everything and travelled across Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran and Russia. They used sophisticated techniques to convert a modest amount of merchandise into vast portfolios for trade and moneylending ventures. Caravans challenges the belief that the rising tide of European trade in the Indian Ocean usurped the overland ‘Silk Road’ trade, and demonstrates how thousands of Punjabis created a booming market in Central Asia at precisely this historical moment.