Book ID: CBB462622473

Steamboats on the Indus: The Limits of Western Technological Superiority in South Asia (2014)

unapi

Two forms of water-transport competed for supremacy on the Indus and its tributaries in the middle of the nineteenth century: the local country boats and the steamboats imported by the British. The steamers were the most advanced technology in South Asia. British investors poured capital into them, colonial officials subsidized them, and European travelers patronized them. The country boats-blown by the winds, rowed by the oars, dragged by ropes-had hardly changed in a thousand years. Yet the country boats kept the river trade while the steam flotillas went bankrupt. They were far better adapted to the shallow, shifting rivers; they were much cheaper to build and operate; and they drew on an extraordinary pool of skills-the skills of boatsmen and boat-builders. Steamboats on the Indus shows that the received wisdom-the 'Technology and Imperialism' school-is wrong to assume that Westerm machines destroyed indigenous techniques wherever they came into competition. Traditional technology could exploit the economic opportunities created by imperialism at lower cost than the most advanced machinery from the West.

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Reviewed By

Review Michael Adas (April 2017) Review of "Steamboats on the Indus: The Limits of Western Technological Superiority in South Asia". Technology and Culture (pp. 578-580). unapi

Review Andrew Lambert (June 2015) Review of "Steamboats on the Indus: The Limits of Western Technological Superiority in South Asia". The Journal of Transport History (pp. 281-282). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB462622473/

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Authors & Contributors
Raina, Dhruv
Beattie, James
Topiwala, Harshad
Brescius, Moritz von
Wilner, Isaiah Lorado
Thomas William Shillam
Concepts
Colonialism
Imperialism
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Traditional societies and cultures
Agriculture
Medicine
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Places
India
South Asia
Great Britain
Africa
Europe
West Indies
Institutions
Congress for Cultural Freedom
East India Company (English)
United States. Central Intelligence Agency
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