South Asia

The South Asia Archive comprises out-of-copyright material dating back to the start of the eighteenth century and up to the mid-twentieth century. The content originates mainly from the Bengal area of India, consisting of unique and rare documents from primary and secondary sources. A significant proportion of the collection is in English, but thirty percent of the documents are written in various vernacular languages of the period/region(s). Serial collections are (where possible) complete, consisting of all available editions/volumes. In order to support a global audience, all document metadata has been translated into English where necessary.

Manuscript collections from the National Library of Scotland. Original manuscript material, comprising diaries, letters, maps, sketches and official and private papers.The 18th and 19th centuries are especially well represented in manuscript sources which look at:
Social history
Urban history
Trade
Wars
Agriculture
Travel and antiquities
Indian and Imperial politics
There are records of doctors and diplomats, civil servants and army officials, tea planters and natural historians, travelers and traders.

East India Company contains 3 modules:
Module I: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947
Module I consists of the most important executive papers of the East India Company and later the India Office, covering the entire period of British rule in India and the expansion of the British Empire over several centuries. Charters, treaties, minutes and correspondence shed light on the foundation, development and demise of the East India Company and, later, the work of the Council of India in overseeing the British Raj.

This module offers comprehensive digitisation of the following core classes:

The East India Company’s charters, deeds, statutes and treaties (IOR/A), with related documents, 1600-1947.
The minutes of the meetings of the East India Company’s Courts of Directors and Proprietors (IOR/B), 1599-1858.
The minutes and memoranda of the Council of India (IOR/C), 1858-1947.
The minutes and memoranda of the general committees and offices of the East India Company (IOR/D), 1700-1858.
Modules II and III: Factory Records for South Asia, South-East Asia, China, Japan and the Middle East (1613-1870)
The East India Company Factory Records (IOR/G) reveal the role of individual trading posts (‘factories’) and are some of the richest sources in the India Office Records for the study of trade networks, daily life for those living and working in the British Empire, and the interaction between Western traders and Asian societies. The material consists of letters sent and received between the factories and London, official trading diaries, accounts of Company embassies to rulers, proceedings of provincial councils and revenue boards, military documents and account books.

Sourced from the British Foreign Office files at The National Archives, the UK government's official archive, this digital collection focuses on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

There is excellent content on Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir, as well as other frontier regions. The threat posed by China and the Soviet Union is analysed in detail. Other files look at the impact on UK, US and European trade, industrial policy, education and the media. There is an immense variety of material including diplomatic dispatches, inward and outward telegrams, newspaper cuttings and transcripts, maps, photographs, political and economic reports, accounts of visits and tours, minutes of meetings, conference proceedings, letters, leaflets and other ephemera.

This project comprises the following three sections:

Independence, Partition and the Nehru Era, 1947-1964
South Asian Conflicts and Independence for Bangladesh, 1965-1971
Afghanistan and the Cold War, Emergency Rule in India, and the Resumption of Civilian Rule in Pakistan, 1972-1980