Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Borders and Beyond
- II Surveys and Explorations
- 4 Picturing a Region: A Geographical History of British Assam
- 5 Geographical Exploration and Historical Investigation: John Peter Wade in Assam
- III Ethnography, History, and the Politics of Representation
- IV Law, State, and Practices of Governance
- V Cultural Dialogues
- Notes on Contributors
- Index
5 - Geographical Exploration and Historical Investigation: John Peter Wade in Assam
from II - Surveys and Explorations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2019
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Borders and Beyond
- II Surveys and Explorations
- 4 Picturing a Region: A Geographical History of British Assam
- 5 Geographical Exploration and Historical Investigation: John Peter Wade in Assam
- III Ethnography, History, and the Politics of Representation
- IV Law, State, and Practices of Governance
- V Cultural Dialogues
- Notes on Contributors
- Index
Summary
What form of government subsisted in Assam previous to your arrival there? In replying to this query you are to specify, as far as may be in your power, the relative degree of authority possessed by the Rajah and the different Chiefs.
– Edward Hay, Secretary to Government to Captain Welsh, 1794The information transmitted, is, I may venture to say, correct in the most material points.
– Captain Welsh to Edward Hay, 1794I offer these sheets to you less with the hope of engaging the slightest portion of your attention to them, than with an anxious and I trust, a laudable desire to interest your good will in favour of the uninterrupted exertion of professional and literary industry….
– John Peter Wade to Lt Col Kirkpatrick, 1800In 1792, the East India Company (EIC) undertook a military expedition into the kingdom of Assam at the invitation of the Ahom king Gaurinath Singha. Having been defeated by the Moamoria rebels along with other rebels in the western part of the kingdom, Gaurinath was looking for help from the administration of the EIC in Calcutta to repress the civil–religious rebellion. The decision to intervene in the affairs of Assam was primarily conditioned by the imminent dislocation of English trade interests that was seriously disrupted due to the civil disturbances inside the Assamese kingdom. The military expedition, commanded by Captain Welsh, was mostly limited to Guwahati, the second capital of the Ahom kingdom. Besides the task of restoring ‘peace and order’, Welsh had another mandate. He was to collect information on the region, information that would make possible imperial control over the region. The troops would be accompanied by Ensign Wood, a surveyor of the EIC. This was indeed the first-ever official military venture of the EIC into Assam and there was general curiosity about the region. The task was facilitated by the presence of an assistant medical surgeon of the company, John Peter Wade (1762–1802). Like many others within the EIC, Wade conducted an investigation into the history and geography of the region he stayed in. When he returned from Assam in 1794, Wade was the proud author of several manuscripts on Assam. Aware of the importance of these scholarly manuscripts, Wade made sure that they were seen by those who would advance his career.
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- Landscape, Culture, and BelongingWriting the History of Northeast India, pp. 110 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019