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Theodolites at 20 000 feet: justifying precision measurement during the trigonometrical survey of Kashmir, 1855–1865

Notes and records of the Royal Society of London, 2022-09, Vol.76 (3), p.603-618 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

ISSN: 0035-9149 ;EISSN: 1743-0178 ;DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2020.0052

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  • Title:
    Theodolites at 20 000 feet: justifying precision measurement during the trigonometrical survey of Kashmir, 1855–1865
  • Author: Ohnesorge, Miguel
  • Is Part Of: Notes and records of the Royal Society of London, 2022-09, Vol.76 (3), p.603-618
  • Description: This paper reconstructs the history of the trigonometrical surveying of Kashmir from 1855 to 1865. It highlights the strategies through which surveyors had to justify the employment of high-precision instruments and methods in Himalayan terrain. Only by tediously manipulating their institutional environment in India and Britain did the staff of the Kashmir survey manage to complete its operations in light of constant financial and physical hardship. To sustain their measurements, surveyors aligned themselves with various political projects, entertaining and shifting allegiances with local rulers, scientific societies, and colonial institutions. After suffering severe cuts to instruments and assistance staff, the party was entirely stripped of funds by the East India Company in 1857 and relied on the material support of Maharaja Gulab Singh. Subsequently, surveyors adopted an expansionist rhetoric to gather the support of the Royal Geographical Society. In doing so, they framed precision as an essential contribution to imperial expansion, effective colonial rule, and intervention in ‘backward’ Kashmiri society and infrastructure. The Kashmir survey illustrates that rendering precision valuable requires an ongoing performative effort of justification to align epistemic with political and institutional interests.
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0035-9149
    EISSN: 1743-0178
    DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2020.0052
  • Source: Alma/SFX Local Collection
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