Abstract :
Cartographic representations of urban spaces in India varied among the five prominent European
colonizers, namely, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, French and British. The colonizers' basic cartographic
approach was focused on familiarization of the newly conquered region through navigative and
accessibility maps; territoralization of place through mapping of enclosed urban spaces such as forts,
town plan maps and promoting supremacy of their culture through language, pictographs and symbols
on maps. While basic mapping exercises pioneered by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century focused
on depiction of detailed coastlines and relevant ports, detailing of colonized establishments such as
forts, walls and churches, was superseded by the British cartographers' scientific approach in mapping
local administrative areas. The paper aims to compare and critically analyze the varying cartographic
gaze of depicting urban India by the successive streams of colonial powers. The paper traces the
advancement in sophistication of mapping techniques chronologically.
Keyword :
Cartographic Gaze Colonial Cartography Colonial Towns Map Aesthetics Symbology