Transportation in Pre Colonial And Colonial India

Transportation In Pre Colonial And Colonial India A Brief History

Prologue

Anuja Dixit Viral Zilpe This book revolves around the pre colonial and colonial India and portrays transition in modes of transportation over time .Where land and water transportation was the only source in colonial India, it became more reliable later when motor vehicles were introduced by the Britishers .This book is a combined effort, where every aspect of it is well researched and curated to deliver the best and most genuine information about the subject.

Transportation has become very important since the establshment of human civilization. If the present means of transportation were not developed, situation of the world would have been totally different.

Transportation has contributed much to the development of economic, social, political and cultural fields and uplifting their condition. Speedy industrialization is impossible without development of transportation. It is inevitably necessary to promote transport system for the proper development of agricultural sector and rural areas. Without development of transportation neither mass production nor distribution is possible.

Contents PRE COLONIAL INDIA

02

History

03

Land Transportation

05

Water Transportation

COLONIAL INDIA

stnetnoC Railways

09

Roadways

13

Water Transport

17

Air Transport

18

Reasons behind construction

India’s pre-colonial history features rich religious and cultural diversity. This diversity comes from the many invading armies, traders and immigrants who brought elements of their own cultures to India.

The climate and landscape throughout the Indian subcontinent ranges dramatically from arid deserts to tropical rainforests. India’s cultural diversity is in many ways a reflection of its varied climate. Languages, food, clothing, customs, songs and literature differ throughout India’s many regions.

It was the era when Moghul empire was at its peak and Babur took over India from Afganistan .

01

PRE COLONIAL INDIA

T

ransportation was improved during the Mughal dynasty . There were several metalled highways reaching various places of the empire. Bridge constructed to speed up the movement of land transport. While some permanent bridges were built during the mughal period, Fords, ferries, and boat bridges continued to be primary important in the plains, and rope suspension bridges and wooden plank bridges in the hills. Also river transport were used for transportation for navigable trips. This type of transportation was a cheap and fast way of transporting goods over long distances. Besides carts and pack ,animals such as bullocks and camels and human porters were a major source of transport , carrying indivuals and objects of amazing weights.

02

History Before every other form of transportation, humans traveled on foot. The earliest need for transportation can be marked with the civilization and their need of trade . Thus silk route became an important source for different civilizations to exchange trade and cultures .

In 3500 BC, the wheel was invented in Iraq and the first wheel was made from wood. Initially, a canoe-like structure was used for water transportation, which was built by burning logs and digging out the burned wood. In 3100BC, the sailing boat was invented by Egyptians while the Romans built roads across Europe. During the Industrial Revolution, the first modern highway was developed by John Loudon McAdam.

In india , the journey began with the ‘pugdandies.’ Pugdandies was a small path created naturally due to frequent walks of earlier times to the present-day Rajpath of Delhi. Since that time, the country has crossed many spheres of road travel. The ‘thread that binds the nation together’ is truly a deserving metaphor for a road network that is one of the largest in the world.

In mughal india, they mainly used chariots, horses, elephants, and boats. The royal people used most of these and they also used palanquins. Commoners travelled on foot, or on horseback or camelback.With the development of culture and trade, cities like Vaishali, Sravasti, Rajagriha, Kurukshetra, and Ujjaini consisted of proper roads in order tofacilitate socio-economic connections.

Grand Trunk road was built by Sher Shah Suri in 3rd century BCE. to ease the overland trade between India and several parts of western Asia which went through the cities of north west parts of India majorly.

03

Land Transportation Road transport was actually developed very early in Ancient Indian civilizations as earlier as Mohenjodaro which is evident from cave paintings on the walls of excavated sites.

During and around the Bronze age, to be more precise during the time of Great Epics (Ramayana and the Mahabharata) the arrival of Chariots changed the way of transportation in India, these were drawn by one or more horses depending upon the load carried. These chariots were decorated with gemstones, and painted fabulously and were used only by the Rich & Ruling class. Commoners still used bullock and ox carts, and were in most part pedestrians.

Over Land Trade: Excavations and inscriptions from civilizations in middle east refer to two wheeled bullock & ox carts were used across plains to trade different goods from India. It is also noted that there were five different styles of carts, these were probably used by different sections of the Populations or it might refer to the vast cultural variations within Indian Cultures. These carts were made of Wood with leather and Sinew interlinings to provide extra support support.

Elite of society started using animals as the kingdoms grew. Most prefered modes were horse chariots , bullock carts , elephants , oxens and camels.

Bullock carts were the chief means of transportation on land. The basic bullock cart was very much similar to the ones which are used in northern India till today.

This cart consisted of a pair of animals tied to a central yoke provided the power to draw the cart. Carts were made of wood, and a copper specimen has also been found.

04

Horse chariots and Horses were mostly used among all the modes due to their ability to cover larger distances .These were mostly the mode used by the king, princes and their army during war , hunting and travelling. Horse chariots were used both at times of war and while travelling with families.

Elephants were used during war by the king .

Camels were the mode considered in hot desert like rajasthan.

Palanquins were the luxurious road transportation mode used by the rich and noblemen for travelling . This was primarily used to carry the dieties or the idols of Gods .

One can still find the sculptures of Gods with palkis in Indian temples. Apart from this this was the mode of transportation for the queens and princesses of the kingdoms too.

05

Water Transportation

The world’s first Dock at Lothal (established around 2400 BC) was a marvel to most modern day experts, as it was properly designed away from the currents to avoid the depositing of silt.

Modern oceanographers think that the Harappans must have had deep knowledge about the ocean currents and hydrography and should have been experts at maritim engineering in order to have successfully built such a dock precisely.

06

Water Transportation: Since India didn’t posses colonies like ancient Greeks or later European kingdoms, maritime were prominently for trade. Around 3000 BCE regions around the Indus Valley Civilization began to show extensive maritime trade activities which were both lengthy (in terms of distance) and frequent. Mesopotamian inscriptions clearly speak about Ships from Indus Valley carrying opper, hardwoods, ivory, pearls, carnelian, and Gold, during the region of the famous ‘Sargon of Akkad’.

By this time the demand for Indian wood and precious Gem Stones such as lapis lazuli were huge in Mesopotamian Societies, and where benefiting both civilizations in terms of both trade profit and cultural & ideological exchange.

In a recent finding, Indian Immigration to Australia by Land and sea was confirmed using DNA verification.

Later during Middle ages, the Textiles from India were in huge demand in Egypt, East Africa and Mediterranean during 1st and 2nd century AD. Around the same time the introduction of Indian culture into Java and Borneo, created a demand for Indian aromatics (Paints and decorative), the trade posts established in these sites later served Chinese and Arab markets.

Later during the period of the Chola dynasty in South India, in what is today Tamil Nadu, extensive maritime trade and conquest were witnessed. The Empire of Chola at it’s peak and was spread far and wide into south east Asia. The Chola Empire is noted for it’s naval presence and overland Conquest of islands (such as modern day Srilanka) and territories in South Asia. (Although most of these were tributaries rather than actual part of Chola Empire). The Influence of Chola’s Navy resulted in Profitable Maritime Trade in the region.

After this period came the Dismemberment of major Indian Empires in North and Central India, and the result was the British Raj.

07

European colonialism started from 15th centure was the main catalyst of change in lifestyle of India .India under British rule was not just the source of prosperity for britishers but turned out to be a boon for the Indians in terms of education, architecture ,transportation, art, infrastructure and many other areas.

Therefore it cant just be perceived as a era of darkness and humiliation. Colonialism did boosted indians to fight , and progress in many fields.

Victoria terminus , Mumbai 19th century

08

COLONIAL INDIA

09

Railways I

n 1843,George Clark ,the chief engineer of the Bombay government gave the idea of rail to connect Bombay with Thane.A meeting of the prominent citizens was later held at Bombay on 13th July 1844.

There was also considerable demand in Bengal for Railway construction.However the initiative for railway construction came from top ,the government and not from below ,the people George Clark, in the meantime had prepared detailed plans for a line from kurla to Thane.A railway association was formed for carrying out scheme.The East India Railway .

Rowland Mcdonald realised the urgency to develop a rail network for India as a whole.He gave priority to the Calcutta-Delhi line as it would cater to the Gangetic Plains which had the larger population of Indian and military forces.He sailed for Calcutta to plead his case with the government of India in 1843 and his first step was to make aware the public of Calcutta to plead his case with the government of India in 1843 and his first step was to make aware the public of Calcutta and England.

In July 1844 he presented his proposal to the Government of Bengal for its support and approval. The government replied with great enthusiasm in August 1844. This support of the Government of Bengal ‘automatically carried with it the support of the Government of India, as till 1854 the Governor General was also the ex. officio Governor of Bengal. After which ,Stephenson sailed for London for the final work.

On his return he contacted theleading East India Commercial Houses such as Cockerell and company, Fletcher, Alexander and company, Crawford, Calvin and company, etc. He proposed the name of the Joint Stock Company as the East Indian Railway Company. The provisional committee of the East Indian Railway Company generally known as EIR was formed under the chairmanship of Sir George Larpent.the EIR presented its prospects to the Court of Directors on January 28, 1845 and the Court made its first offpronouncement on the subject of Railways on May 7, 1845.This gave a green signal to the Railway promoters and in May 1845 the provisional committee of Stephenson established themselves into a Joint Stock Company,The East Indian Railway Company with a capital outlay of ÂŁ40,00,000.

George Clark , 1843

Rowland Stephenson ,1861

10

11

Reasons

For the Construction Of Railways

R

ailways were not developed in India to stimulate industrial development.

The first important consideration that led to the construction of railways in India was the commercial needs of the Lancashire mills for good and clean cotton as its carrying by typical local mode of transport (i.e., cart) led to dirt.

The second consideration that required railway construction was the military strategy. Railways would provide quick and reliable transportation of goods, troops, and stores. Thus, surely commercial and political objectives encouraged the building up of an extensive railway system in India.

12

Before the introduction of railways in India, transportation was costly, undependable and difficult. With the acquiring of political power, the Government of India together with the British Government realised the importance of the improved means of transport and railways were thought to be most ideal so far as low transport costs, reliability, and speed were concerned. Not long after railway construction began in England (1825), the idea for the construction of railway lines in this country was first mooted in 1832.

EIR railway 1895

13

ROADWAYS

T

he trunk road system built during the Mughal rules was totally inadequate compared to the size of the country and its population. Above all, most of the roads fell into pitiable condition after the fall of the Mughal Empire. The EIC neglected road construction as railway construction was thought to be more important from the profitability point of view.

Since roads were in a poor state, movement of goods driven by carts rather than the wheeled traffic was virtually impossible and in its place bullocks came to be used thereby doubling the cost of transport. As a result, overland trade could not make any mark. The few new roads which the Company built were primarily for military purposes and the government did little even to maintain the existing roads.It was only after the First World War that motor transport received strong support and with it the importance of good metalled roads.

Roads to be constructed were of four categories—national highways, state or provincial highways, major district roads, and village roads. Anyway, this ambitious road development had been handicapped by fund crunch and physical shortage of construction materials. The final assault came from the partition of the country when as many as 57,000 miles of road went to Pakistan and the rest 2,39,000 miles allocated to India.

Road transport in India could not develop till the outbreak of the World War II, as government opted for only railway expansion. Truly speaking, road transport had to face severe competition from the railways. In an effort to bring fair competition between rail and road in a coordinated manner, the Motor Vehicles Act was passed in 1939.

14

Carriages In the beginning of the19th century, the main mode of transportation was the horse and carriage. It wasn’t until the latter part of the century that railways changed people’s lives and habits. But even after the advent of the railway, remote areas still relied on the horse for local transport. Following is a brief summary of the types of vehicles used to get around.

Carts, drays, vans and wagons were generally used for carrying goods in England. They could also be used to carry people, but generally people of the lower orders. Barouches, landaus, victorias, curricles and broughams were all carriages. They varied in body shape and number of horses pulling them.

Victoria Carriage A low open carriage with four wheels , in which only one or two people used to sit.

Hansom This was a two wheels vehicle and the driver sat in back , so the passengers could get the clear view of the way they were going.

Push- push These were the push carriages which were used in the french colony of Pondicherry in 1890.

15

Stagecoach carriage Coaches which stopped at various pre-appointed stages in order to pick up and drop off passengers.

Landau Open fancy carriage with four wheels with a hood at each end and two seats opposite each other.Two horses pulled the Landau.

Omnibuses These carriages carried 12 passengers inside and was pulled by horses. They were used for hiring purposes.

16

Motor Wheels

B

oth steam and gasoline driven cars were well developed before they made their appearance in India.

It was in 1897 that a resident of Calcutta brought the first car to India. The next year, there were four cars in Bombay, one of them owned by Jamshedji Tata and the other three also by Parsis. That same year, the first pneumatic tyres arrived in Bombay, with Dunlop opening an office in the city.Madras, it would appear, lagged behind, though it is related that a car was seen on Mount Road on a brief outing in 1894. If that unconfirmed appearance is ignored, the first recorded date of a car being in regular use in Madras is 1901. The car was owned by A J Yorke, a director of Parry & Co. He drove it daily from Ben’s Gardens, Adyar, to Parry’s in ‘Black Town’. The South’s first registered car, MC-1, belonged to Francis Spring, at that time Secretary of the Madras Railway Board and, in 1904, to become the Chairman of the Madras Port Trust and ‘father’ of the Madras Harbour.

The first Indian-owned car in Madras, MC-3, was building contractor T Namberumal Chetty’s.

Hindustan Motors Ltd, Calcutta, and Premier Automobiles Ltd, Bombay, were established in 1942 and 1944 respectively to progressively manufacture complete automobiles.

Hindustan Motors, a Birla group company, began manufacturing operations in 1948 by assembling Morris Oxford cars and Bedford trucks.

17

Water Transport

Steam ship owned by EIC in 1905

B

efore 1800, the water transport in India was a flourishing industry. In carrying internal trade, the role of boats was crucial. For long-distance carriage of bulky goods like food-grains, and salt, water transport enjoyed some advantage in cost terms.

However, the quickest as well as the cheapest mode of transport was country boats. With the introduction of steamships in the mid-19th century, not only travel time declined in respect of the movement of goods and passengers but it also enjoyed enormous cost advantage over country boats. However, no road and river traffic data was available. What was unique was its gradual decline due to stiff competition with the railways after 1860.

The shipping industry in India has had a chequered carrier. With the advent of the British rule, the Indian shipping industry came under brutal competition from the British ships. It was the sheer discriminatory and unjust practices of the British Government that caused the Indian shipping transport to languish.A ‘near monopoly’ in the port-to-port traffic in India was established by the British shipping companies that remained the major carriers of Indian cargo during the entire British rule. Ashok Mehta observed: “A complex of forces destroyed Indian shipping. Britain was a sea power, shipping was its lifeline. The Britsh came to India as traders but remained as rulers, but in that magical metamorphosis they never relaxed their hold over the sea—the carrying trade had become their monopoly”.

18

Air Transport

T

he growth of air transport in India is just 100 years old—in 1911 the first air-mail service between Allahabad and Naini was introduced by the Posts and Telegraph Department of the Government of India.

1927: The world’s first officially christened national airline’s, Britain’s Imperial Airways extends to Empire Routes to India, connecting India with the outside world for the first time through an air network. A de Havilland Hercules flies the Cairo-Basra-Karachi-Jodhpur-Delhi route. It is also the first domestic passenger flight to be operated in India. By 1939, three air companies—the Total Airlines, the Indian National Airways, and the Air Services of India—were set up for internal operations.A great boom for this transport system came during the World War II. In spite of this, there had been a haphazard and unplanned expansion of air transport in this country in the Post-War period. After the partition, the number of air companies operating in India increased to 10.

1910: The first Indian, or maybe even Asian, to have an airplane is the young Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh, who has a keen interest in aviation. Singh sends his Chief Engineer to Eurpoe for a study with orders to buy three planes, including a Bleriot monoplane and Farman biplanes, which arrive in the Punjab later that year.

1911: Domestic commercial aviation is born in India when on February 18, Henri Piquet , flying a Humber biplane, carries mail from Allahabad to Naini Junction, some six miles away.

Acknowledgements Acknowledgements In performing our assignment, we had to take the help and guideline of some respected persons, who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this assignment gives us much pleasure. We would like to show our gratitude Ms. Sushmita Das, Course professor, fashion communication for giving us a good guideline for assignment throughout numerous consultations. We would also like to expand our deepest gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly guided us in writing this assignment.

References

www.historydiscussion.net www.delhibyfoot.in www.frontline.in www.i.dailymail.co.uk www.pakistanpaedia.com www.indiroots.in www.wiki.fbis.org www.s.newsweek.com www.indiatoday.in www.shodhganga.in www.shodhgangotri.in www.literary-liaisons.com www.academia.edu

Victoria Terminus , Bambay (1880)