Surveying and mapping in colonial Sri Lanka : 1800 - 1900

A study of surveying and mapping is imperative for understanding the nature of colonialism in South Asia. It also sheds light on the islands economy, environment, and politics. This book is the first comprehensive history of surveying and mapping in colonial Sri Lanka. It provides a wide-ranging account of events, policies, and individuals shaping and animating the largest government department on the island. The volume discusses the founding of the survey department in 1800 and explains why it took them more than one hundred years to publish a map of the island based on new surveys. It also highlights the linkages between the department and the islands ecology and economy and reviews how surveying affected colonial labour practices. Ian Barrow raises pertinent questions regarding the role of science and modernity in the creation and maintenance of a colonial statewhether there was anything called colonial science? Did the practice of colonial science transform the island into a modern colonial state? He also investigates the nature of nineteenth-century colonialismwhether there were consequential changes in the ideology and practices of colonialism during the century.