India for the Working Classes: The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

Extract

This paper examines the maps of India published under the supervision of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) during the 1830s and 1840s. The Society was established in London in late 1826 to educate poor adults and the working classes in a variety of intellectual and practical subjects. It published an encyclopaedia, a magazine and a series of monographs, including a book on The Hindoos. But it also published, in instalments, an atlas that featured India in twelve sheets together with a detailed map of Calcutta. The maps were first issued in the 1830s and reissued a decade later. The India maps of the SDUK are the first multi-sheet maps that were sold explicitly for non-elite British audiences and, as such, are of great interest. Moreover, they were among the most detailed, well-drawn maps generally available, and were sometimes eagerly sought-after. A close examination of the maps – their symbols, names, regions and perspectives – reveals how the Company's Indian empire was depicted, described, taught and made ‘useful’ to the working classes.