Abstract
This essay draws upon archival records and examines the maritime circulations of salt between the British empire and some of the 200 Princely states that fringed the empire in Saurāshtra, Western India between 1911 and 1932. In doing so, the British empire’s revenue interests that were secured via a terrestrial customs cordon, law and power are revealed. The coastline of Western India that was difficult to patrol due to numerous creeks indicates the presence of country crafts that are likely to have transported salt. During the period under examination, the meaning of the ocean as a resource and a passageway for commerce was well established. The movements of salt further our knowledge about the relationship of the British with the Princely states that were indirectly under the empire and which are relatively overshadowed in mainstream Indian and maritime history.
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This research was supported by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology between 2013 and 2016. Sincere thanks to Dr. John Eidson, Dr. David O’Kane, Dr. Stephen Reyna, Dr. James Carrier, Dr. Aida Alymbaeva, and to the participants in the colloquium ‘Production of Imperial Space: Empires and Circulations’, held at Sciences Po on 24 November 2017.
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Patel, V. (2022). Salt, Boats and Customs: Maritime Princely States in Western India, 1910–1932. In: Boswell, R., O’Kane, D., Hills, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Blue Heritage. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99347-4_8
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