The empire of the Raj : India, Eastern Africa and the Middle East, 1858-1947 / Robert J. Blyth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blyth, Robert J., 1971-

Series:

Cambridge imperial and post-colonial studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Relations.

Middle East--Colonization.

Middle East.

Colonization.

Middle East Region.

Africa, East--Colonization.

Africa, East.

Great Britain--Relations--India.

Great Britain.

India--Relations--Great Britain.

India.

Physical Description:

x, 270 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Summary:

British India, as a result of history, geopolitics and its unique status within the Empire, controlled a chain of overseas agencies that stretched from southern Persia to eastern Africa. This book examines how, as the relative importance of British interests steadily eclipsed those of India throughout the region, Indian sub-imperial impulses clashed with the relentlessly advancing metropole.

Contents:

1 The Empire of the Raj: The Definition, Delineation and Dynamics of the Indian Sphere 1

Overview: patterns and processes 2

Approach: problems and perspectives 8

Part I The Indian Sphere Before 1914

2 'A Glacis of Varying Breadth and Dimension': Persia and the Persian Gulf, c. 1850-1914 15

The interface of East and West: control of the Tehran mission to 1890 16

Problems of a dual system: the Imperial challenge, c. 1890-1914 25

3 'A Conflict of Directions': The British Indian Agency at Zanzibar, c. 1856-1883 38

The Zanzibar connection before the death of Said ibn Sultan 39

Questioning Indian political control at Zanzibar, c. 1856-70 41

Crisis at Zanzibar: Bombay and the perils of political control, 1870-73 48

Finance and the transfer of Zanzibar, c. 1870-83 55

4 'He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune': Aden and Somaliland, c. 1869-1914 65

External challenges, strategic reassessments, and consolidation, 1869-90 66

Local and Imperial dilemmas: the Somaliland Protectorate in the 1890s 75

Curzon and the Aden question 84

Part II The Indian Sphere, 1914-1937

5 'A Colony for India': The Struggle for East Africa, c. 1914-1924 93

The East Africa campaign and the idea of an Indian colony, 1914-18 96

Debate in Whitehall, East Africa and India, 1918-19 104

Mandate or settlement scheme? India and Tanganyika, 1919-21 112

Losing all round: India and the Kenyan crisis, 1919-c. 1923 119

6 'Basrah is as Near to Delhi as Rangoon': Realigning the Middle East, 1914-c. 1921 132

'A colony for India and Indians': Mesopotamia, 1914-15 133

Challenging the Indian sphere, 1916-17 145

Confusion and compromise: Mesopotamia and beyond, 1917-21 155

7 'When One Comes to Details, Difficulties Bristle': The Aden Transfer, c. 1917-1937 170

Opportunity and frustration, c. 1917-21 171

Accepting the status quo: the debate on compromise, 1922-28 183

Achieving the transfer, 1928-37 189

Part III The End of the Indian Sphere

8 'A Sort of Gilded Parochialism': Conclusions and Postscript 201

Postscript: India and the Persian Gulf, c. 1928-48 203.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-261) and index.

ISBN:

0333914759

OCLC:

50476828