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Volume : III, Issue : II, March - 2013 APPROPRIATING TERRITORIES FOR IMPERIAL INTERESTS SURAJ KUMAR SUMAN DOI : 10.9780/22307850, Published By : Laxmi Book Publication Abstract : By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British Empire in India was at its
pinnacle. Only few portions of the north India,formally constituting the domains of
Ranjeet Singh, were yet to be brought under British paramountancy.Very soon these
alluring regions acquired a greater importance for being a natural border land, and
created necessary pushes and pulls to implant colonial rule there as well. Through a
number of travelogues, maintained by the European travellers, who visited these regions
in the guise of hypocritical travelers, the secrets associated with these lands were
revealed. More essentially the travel accounts developed by victor Jacquemont and
Baron Charles Hugel emphasized the need to conquer these vital regions. The present
paper traces how these two travel narratives particularly, not just demonstrated,but
powerfully asserted thatthe impoverished lands and the decadent subjects of Lahore
Darbar need a touch ofmessianic British rule. Besides with the objective of motivating
the British intervention, the geo-political, geo-strategic, and military-cum economic
potentialities of these regions was stressed in such a way that in subsequent years, all
these lands became the focus of imperial business. Keywords : Article : Cite This Article : SURAJ KUMAR SUMAN, (2013). APPROPRIATING TERRITORIES FOR IMPERIAL INTERESTS. Indian Streams Research Journal, Vol. III, Issue. II, DOI : 10.9780/22307850, http://oldisrj.lbp.world/UploadedData/2186.pdf References : - Bamazai, P.N.K (1994) Cultural and Political History of Kashmir, New Delhi: Md Publications, P.613
- Bowman, Linda (2011). “Travelers' tales: Great Game Narratives''p.2
- Bamazi, cultural and Political History of Kashmir, p.614
- Victor Jacquemont, (1834) Letters from India. Describing a journey in the British Dominions of India, Tibet, Lahore, and Cashmere during the years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, p.233: Jacquemont's letters were first published in English since he was on a trip which was sponsored by the Royal Asiatic Society. Indebted to his English patrons, his letters carried an introduction by his English publisher which frankly avowed the value of his work as an =impartial 'judge of British rule in India, even an =unwilling advocate 'by virtue of his being from France which had been defeated in India by Britain. See ibid: introduction.
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