Bombay: The genealogy of a global imperial city

This article will argue that the history of East India Company Bombay - like that of many foreign British enterprises, and like many other 'global' cities and indeed colonies generally - is best understood as the product of contradictions and contingencies. Bombay was never easy to define geographically and its identity as an 'English' settlement was precarious. It could not insulate itself militarily from the powerful polities nearby; nor could it always rely on the loyalty of its subjects, whether English or of other ethnicities. It was a city constructed out of crisis and tragedy, trial and error, a history that the story about a European dynastic 'dowry' obscures, and which Company representatives worked hard to conceal.

Duke Scholars

Author Philip J. Stern History