India Collection

India is a large region of southern Asia and one of the most populous country in the world. It has long been celebrated for its riches and valuable natural products. Its people were early civilized, and exhibit remarkable taste and skill in the manufacture of the most costly merchandise. India was the subject of many works in the colonial period. As the British assumed control over India many artists flocked to the new territory to portray its views and people for the first time.

In the early history of India we have the Aryan invasion, about 1000 B.C. or earlier, bringing in the Sanskrit language and the Vedic religion; the Persian invasion under Darius (518 B.C.); and the Grecian under Alexander the Great (327 B.C.). In 1001 A.D. the Mohammedans overran almost the whole country. The Mongol invasions under Genghis Khan and Tamerlane ended in the Mogul empire (1525), Akbar the Great being perhaps the greatest sovereign India has ever known. The empire divided after his death in 1707.

The European nations appeared first in India as travelers, traders and missionaries, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the French having settlements early in the 18th century. The British East India Company settled in India in 1653, with three trading-settlements at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. Its power dates from the battle of Plassy in 1757, won by Clive over the Mogul, which gave England the dominion of Bengal. The company was chartered by England, and had to be sustained by English troops, and with every renewal of the charter the government assumed more control.

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The annexation of territory continued without check, except in 1838, when the effort to establish a British protectorate in Afghanistan was a failure, and in 1857 occurred the Indian mutiny, with its massacres of English residents at Cawnpore and other places. In 1858 the government passed into the hands of Great Britain, and the British East India Company ceased to exist. The wars of 1878 and 1884 with Afghanistan and Burma have increased and strengthened British territory. Since then India gained its independence from the British and is now a nation state.

Geography

India proper, the central peninsula of southern Asia, is about 1,900 miles long and 1,600 wide, covering 1,766,642 square miles. The British provinces occupy 1,097,901 square miles, while 691,253 square miles are taken up by the feudatory or native states. The population, in 1911, of the British area was 244,267,542, and of the native states, 70,864,995, or a total for all of 315,132,531.

The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, which employs about 192 million people. The principal towns (including cantonments), with their populations, in 1911 were Calcutta (with suburbs), 1,222,300; Bombay (979,443); Madras (518,660); Haiderabad (500,623); Lucknow (259,798); Rangoon (293,316); Benares (203,804); Delhi (232,837); Lahore (228,687); Cawnpore (178,557); and Agra (185,449).

References:

See Modern India by Monier Williams; India in 1880 by Temple; Asiatic Studies by Lyall; and History of India by Grant, by Duff, by Mallison and by Kaye.

The New Student's Reference Work (1914)

Regional Sub-Divisions

Available Books

Book Title	Date
Twenty Four Plates Illustrative of Bengal	1832
The Ruins of Gour	1817
Dacca Collection	1900
Observations on the Neilgherries	1834
Letters Written in a Mahratta Camp	1813
Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official Vol. 1	1844
Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official Vol. 2	1844
A Sketch of Assam	1847
Illustrations of Indian Field Sports	1892
The Indian Alps and How We Crossed Them	1876
Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan Empire	1821
The Ruins of Mandoo	1860
Journal of a Route Across India	1819
Wanderings of a Pilgrim, in Search of the Picturesque Vol. 1	1850
Wanderings of a Pilgrim, in Search of the Picturesque Vol. 2	1850
A Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava	1858
Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India [Text]	1865
Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India [Atlas]	1865
Sketches and Incidents of the Siege of Lucknow	1857
Asiatic Costumes	1828
The Costume of Indostan	1804
The Costume of Hindostan	1804
Sketches from Nipal Vol. 1	1880
Sketches from Nipal Vol. 2	1880
Views in India, China, and on the Shores of the Red Sea	1835
Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt Vol. 1	1809
Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt Vol. 2	1809
Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt Vol. 3	1809
Twenty-Four Views Taken in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, Abyssinia, and Egypt	1809
Views of Calcutta and its Environs	1848
Antiquities of Dacca	1823
A Picturesque Voyage to India by the Way of China	1810
Journals Kept in Hyderabad, Kashmir, Sikkim, and Nepal Vol. 1	1887
Journals Kept in Hyderabad, Kashmir, Sikkim, and Nepal Vol. 2	1887
Constable's Hand Atlas of India	1893
A Description of the Sea Coasts in the East Indies	1690
The High-Road of Empire	1905
The People of India	1910
Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian	1877
The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great	1896
Southern India, Painted and Described	1914
Grand Moving Diorama of Hindostan	1853
The Moslem Noble	1857
Old Daniel, or, Memoir of a Converted Hindoo	1877
The Armies of India, Painted and Described	1911
The Durbar	1903
India by Mortimer Menpes	1905
The Highlands of Central India	1871
Views in India, chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains	1836
Line of March of a Bengal Regiment of Infantry	1840
The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars	1897
A Year on the Punjab Frontier Vol. 2	1851
A Year on the Punjab Frontier Vol. 1	1851
The Happy Valley: Sketches of Kashmir and the Kashmiris	1879
Wild life in Canara and Ganjam	1885
A Picturesque Tour Along the Rivers Ganges and Jumna, in India	1824
Select Views in Mysore	1794
Service and Adventure with the Khakee Ressalah	1858
Travels in Western India	1839
Tiger-Shooting in India	1857
Narrative of a Visit to the Court of Sinde	1839
Personal Observations on Sindh	1843
Travels in India, including Sinde and the Punjab	1845
To India and Back By the Cape	1859
Relics of the Honourable British East India Company	1909
Sketches from Scinde	1846
Gardens of the Great Mughals	1913
Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia Vol. 1	1861
Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia Vol. 2	1862
Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia Vol. 3	1863
Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia Vol. 4	1866
Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia Atlas	1866
Pioneers in India	1913
Travels in the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amoor	1860
A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon	1911
Empire of India Exhibition	1895
Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora	1803
A Personal Narrative of a Visit to Ghuzni, Kabul, and Afghanistan	1840
Kulu: It's Beauties, Antiquities and Silver Mines	1873
India and Tibet	1910
Among the Celestials	1898
The Heart of a Continent	1896
Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindostan	1848
Twelve Views of the Island of Bombay and Its Vicinity	1800
The Sundhya, or, the Daily Prayers of the Brahmins	1851
Journal of a Voyage, in 1811 and 1812, to Madras and China	1814
Travels from India to England	1827
Cutch; or, Random Sketches	1839
The World in Miniature: Hindoostan Vol. 1	1822
The World in Miniature: Hindoostan Vol. 2	1822
The World in Miniature: Hindoostan Vol. 3	1822
The World in Miniature: Hindoostan Vol. 4	1822
The World in Miniature: Hindoostan Vol. 5	1822
The World in Miniature: Hindoostan Vol. 6	1822
The World in Miniature: Tibet & India Beyond the Ganges	1824
Western India, in 1838	1839
Views in the Himalaya and Neilgherry Hills	1854
Views in the Himalayas	1852
Views in the Himala Mountains	1820
Journal of a Tour through Part of the Snowy Range of the Himala Mountains	1820
Views of Calcutta and It's Environs	1826
Six Views of Kot Kangra and the Surrounding Country	1847
Views in India, Chiefly Among the Neelgherry Hills	1837
A Brief History of Ancient and Modern India	1828
Views in Bootan	1813
Hindoostan Scenery	1799
Select Views in India	1797
24 Views in Indostan by William Orme	1802
Picturesque Scenery in the Kingdom of Mysore	1805
Scenery, Costumes and Architecture, Chiefly on the Western Side of India	1826
Oriental Scenery	1816
Sketches of the New Road in a Journey from Calcutta to Gnah	1830
The European in India	1813
Tom Raw, the Griffin: a Burlesque Poem	1828
Oriental Drawings	1806
Twelve Views of Places in the Kingdom of Mysore	1801
A Journey from Madras Vol. 1	1807
A Journey from Madras Vol. 2	1807
A Journey from Madras Vol. 3	1807
Three Panoramic Views of Ottacamund	1830
Views of the Neilgherries, or Blue Mountains of Coimbetoor	1830
Views of Simla	1846
Sketches Illustrating the Manners & Customs of the Indians	1842
Sketches in the Deccan	1837
The Campaign in India	1859
Shooting in the Himalayas	1854
Portraits of the Princes and People of India	1844
Original Sketches in the Punjaub	1854
Oriental Scenery Vol. 1	1795
Oriental Scenery Vol. 2	1797
Oriental Scenery Vol. 3	1802
Oriental Scenery Vol. 4	1804
Oriental Scenery Vol. 5	1808
Oriental Scenery Vol. 6	1806
Life in Bombay	1852
Oriental Field Sports Vol. 1	1807
Oriental Field Sports Vol. 2	1808
A Journey from India to England	1818
The History of the Indian Mutiny Vol. 1	1858
The History of the Indian Mutiny Vol. 2	1859