Overview

From European Dwelling Settlements to Global Cities looks at the pattern of urbanization, planning and development of spatial culture-regular and periodic-on the Tamil coast in the early modern world and the historical processes that shaped them. It examines the establishment and growth of the towns Porto Novo, Tuticorin, Nagapattinam, Mylapore, Pulicat, Tranquebar, Cuddalore, and Madras that developed in the age of European commerce and empire, from the clustered villages around the umland, the vast and deep hinterland and the wide expanse of maritime foreland. The study makes a comparative understanding of these cosmopolitan ports and how they superseded interior capital cities like Madurai, Thanjavur, and Tiruchirapalli, the flourishing seats of power. Stephen argues that the network and gateway functions connecting the several ports of the Atlantic and a multitude of trading marts in Asia enabled them to rise from European dwelling settlements to fortified commercial towns and global cities. These enclaves used information and technological changes to enhance their living conditions, employment opportunities and longevity. This book also analyses, historically, the phenomena of urbanism and colonialism through the study of topography, cartography, demography, and Western iconography. It traces the geo-political factors significant in securing the prominence of these port towns, the elements of military, civil and commercial administrations in them, with governors and military commanders, and explains the evolution of White Town and the Black Settlements, beyond the walls of the city. The book also dwells on building and construction technology, the growth of institutions like the municipality, public works, court of justice, mint, gunpowder factory, and astronomical observatory, besides the missionaries' activities and city life.

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9789390430109

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S. Jeyaseela Stephen is Directeur, Institut pour études Indo-Européennes. He was Professor of Maritime History (2001-13) at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. He is the author of numerous books including Expanding Portuguese Empire and the Tamil Economy: Sixteenth Eighteenth Centuries (2009); Oceanscapes: Tamil Textiles in the Early Modern World (2014); A Meeting of the Minds: European and Tamil Encounters in Modern Sciences, 1507-1857 (2016); Pondicherry under the French: Illuminating the Urban Landscape, 1674-1793 (2018); and Natural History Knowledge, Tamil Coast and the Atlantic Within Reach, 1639-1857 (2019). He received the best book prize for the year 1999 from the Government of Tamil Nadu. His books have been translated into Chinese, Danish, and Tamil languages.

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