Originally published in 1986, this work discusses the development in Dacca of western-style municipal organization and its financial and practical problems and also explores the economic transition of the city after 1840. It is one of the few urban studies which carries through from the ‘old order’ to the new administrative towns of British rule and attempts to show what happened to the communities of townsmen in the period of adaptation. It casts new light on the function and organization of Indian urban societies in the colonial period, on the transfer of western institutions and the organization and composition of Bengali trade outside Calcutta.
Abbreviations
Preface
Nineteenth-Century Dacca: Some Views
Introduction
1. Dacca: The Historical Setting
2. A Centre of Provincial Administration
3. A Centre of Education
4. Economic Revival: Trade, Commerce and Manufactures
5. Demographic and Physical Changes
6. The Struggles for Urban Renewal
7. Urban Solutions
8. Growth of Elective Local Government
Conclusion
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Sharif Uddin Ahmed
