Description
It was primarily opium that linked Bombay to the international capitalist economy and the western Indian hinterland in the nineteenth century. The essays in this book explore the linkages between the opium enterprise of western India and the creation of early Victorian Bombay. They dwell on some of the prominent features of urban development which reflect the relationship of collaboration and conflict between the capitalist class of the city and British colonial rule. They show opium as the crucial factor in the emergence of Bombay as a metropolis.
CONTENTS
Introduction
- Bombay: A Colonial Port in Search of Business
- Bombay and the Trade in Malwa Opium
- Urban Development in Early Victorian Bombay
Bibliography and Appendices
Photo of a 19th century Chinese opium smoker. Signatures of leading opium merchants of Bombay on a petition to the Governor General, 1839.
Amar Farooqui
Amar Farooqui is Professor of History at the University of Delhi. His area of specialisation is modern Indian history, and his research interests include colonialism, urban history, and the role of narcotics in imperialist policies. During his career he has taught a variety of themes centered around Imperialism and Nationalism, the 1857 Rebellion, and Early Social Formations. He has presented numerous papers related to these issues at the Indian History Congress sessions and at numerous national and international conferences and seminars.
Author of many well received research papers in respected academic journals in history and social sciences, his other publications include<a href=”https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739108864″> Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants and the Politics of Opium</a> (1998); <a href=”http://www.primusbooks.com/showbookdetail.asp?bookid=18″>Scindias and the Raj: Princely Gwalior, c. 1800-1850</a> (2011); Early Social Formations (2002); ed. Remembering Dr Gangadhar Adhikari: Life, Reminiscences, Selected Writings (in two volumes, 1998 and 2000).
