While previous episodes have explored the military and political mechanisms of the British Raj, this episode shifts focus to the silent, bureaucratic engine that made empire possible: cartography. We examine how the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India turned geography into a tool of domination. You will meet James Rennell, whose early maps laid the groundwork for imperial control, and Andrew Waugh, who led the monumental effort to map the Himalayas, including the peak later named Everest. The conversation delves into the technical precision of the Survey, the human cost of the laborers who carried heavy instruments across treacherous terrain, and the psychological impact of seeing one’s homeland rendered as data on a grid. This is not just about science; it is about how drawing lines on paper allowed a distant government to tax, police, and govern a subcontinent with unprecedented efficiency. Discover how the act of naming and measuring became an act of power.
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