Description

Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859) was a colonial official who spent his career in India, eventually becoming governor of Bombay in 1819. Before that he was resident in Poona (Pune) during the final days of the Maratha empire. He was fluent in Persian and took an interest in the culture of the region. This report, however, published in 1821, is a political work. The report describes the western Indian territory that the British had acquired by 1818, and Elphinstone provides a geographical overview of the area and the people who lived there. He then gives a brief sketch of Maratha history before moving on to the crux of the work: how to administer the territory, with the question of how to raise more revenue being of especial importance. This report provides a first-hand example of the inner workings of the British Empire in India.