Imperial connections : India in the Indian Ocean arena, 1860-1920 / / Thomas R. Metcalf

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910816553403321
• Autore: Metcalf Thomas R. <1934->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, 2007
• ISBN: 1-282-76223-0; 9786612762239; 0-520-93333-8; 1-4337-0969-4
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (285 p.)
• Collana: The California world history library ; ; 4
• Disciplina: 909/.09824081
• Soggetti: East Indians - Colonization - Indian Ocean Region - History; East Indians - Employment - Indian Ocean Region - History; Indian Ocean Region Colonization History; Great Britain Colonies Africa Administration; Great Britain Colonies Asia Administration
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction: Empire Recentered -- 1. Governing Colonial Peoples -- 2. Constructing Identities -- 3. Projecting Power: The Indian Army Overseas -- 4. Recruiting Sikhs for Colonial Police and Military -- 5. "Hard Hands and Sound Healthy Bodies": Recruiting "Coolies" for Natal -- 6. India in East Africa -- Conclusion -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: An innovative remapping of empire, Imperial Connections offers a broad-ranging view of the workings of the British Empire in the period when the India of the Raj stood at the center of a newly globalized system of trade, investment, and migration. Thomas R. Metcalf argues that India itself became a nexus of imperial power that made possible British conquest, control, and governance across a wide arc of territory stretching from Africa to eastern Asia. His book, offering a new perspective on how imperialism operates, emphasizes transcolonial interactions and webs of influence that advanced the interests of ; colonial India and Britain alike. Metcalf examines such topics as law codes and administrative forms as they were shaped by Indian precedents; the Indian Army's role in securing Malaya, Africa, and Mesopotamia for the empire; the employment of Indians, especially Sikhs, in colonial policing; and the transformation of East Africa into what was almost a province of India through the construction of the Uganda railway. He concludes with a look at the decline of this Indian Ocean system after 1920 and considers how far India's participation in it opened opportunities for Indians to be a colonizing as well as a colonized people.