From Cantonment to Commercial Hub: Colonial Policies and Trade in Bangalore
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper analyzes how colonial-era policies transformed Bangalore from a military cantonment into a commercial hub between ca. 1800 and 1920. The cantonment initially served as a concentrated demand node, but sustained commercialization was driven by targeted infrastructural investments. Specific policies—urban planning, rail transport development, and municipal/land regulations—reoriented pre-existing trade patterns, facilitated commercial aggregation, and enabled the emergence of hybrid merchant networks. The study concludes that while these institutional and spatial choices were foundational to Bangalore's economic prominence, they also embedded the socio-spatial inequalities visible in its modern urban form.
Article Details
Issue
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Azariah, R. Bangalore: From a Fort to a Global City. Bangalore: Urban Studies Press, 2003.
Roy, Tirthankar. The Economic History of India, 1857–1947. 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 2019.
Sinha, M. “Bangalore: Military Presence and Urban Change.” Indian Historical Quarterly, vol. 70, 1994, pp. 77–98.
Chakrabarty, D. “Colonial Cities and the Politics of Space.” Journal of South Asian Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, 1992, pp. 123–145.
Evenson, Norma. The Indian Metropolis: A View Toward the West. Yale University Press, 1989.
Gupta, Narayani. Delhi Between Two Empires: 1803–1931. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Hosagrahar, Jyoti. Indigenous Modernities: Negotiating Architecture and Urbanism in Colonial India. London: Routledge, 2005.
Muthiah, S. Madras Rediscovered. Chennai: EastWest Books, 2001.
Rao, N. Cantonments and Colonial Cities: Military Urbanism in South Asia. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2010.