Bombay Gazette
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"
Meaning
The Bombay Gazette was an English-language newspaper published in Bombay in the 19th century. It spoke for the views of British and Indian merchants in the city. It is useful to historians because it shows the excitement over cotton when the American Civil War cut supplies to Britain. Newspapers like this help us check official reports against other points of view.
Example
In 1861 its editor asked what could prevent India from supplanting the American slave states as the feeder of Lancashire (Britain's cotton-mill region). The question shows the hope that India could become Britain's main cotton supplier. That hope fed the Deccan cotton boom of 1861–65.
Don't confuse with
- The Fifth Report (1813): this was an official report to the British Parliament about how the Company ran Bengal and Madras. The Bombay Gazette was a privately run newspaper, not a government document.
Related concepts
- Surat
- Gomastha
- System of advances
- Deindustrialisation
- American Civil War
- Cotton Supply Association
- Manchester Cotton Company