City, Frontier and Empire: A Spatial History of British Assam, 1826-1947 (Empire and Frontiers)

Frontiers are dynamic geographical spaces where state-building and geopolitical control continuously shape complex social imaginations.The British Empire's construction of frontiers in South Asia represents one of history's most consequential exercises in territorial control and cultural transformation.The eastern Himalayas, a natural frontier separating China from South Asia, became a site of contested ambitions enacted, imposed, and resisted both within and beyond imperialist control.This geographical region remains a critical focus for understanding the interplay of imperial forces and frontier dynamics. Set in British India's Northeastern Frontier Region, this book examines urban emergence from colonial annexation in 1826 through independence in 1947.Drawing on archival sources and colonial cartography, it traces how key towns materialized along India's northeastern frontier as instruments of imperial control.The study reveals how British perceptions of the Brahmaputra valley as a