City Frontier and Empire

Frontiers are dynamic geographical spaces where state-building and geopolitical control continuously shape complex social imaginations. The British Empire's construction of frontiers in South Asia represents one of history's most consequential exercises in territorial control and cultural transformation. The eastern Himalayas, a natural frontier separating China from South Asia, became a site of contested ambitions enacted, imposed and resisted both within and beyond imperialist control. This geographical region remains a critical focus for understanding the interplay of imperial forces and frontier dynamics. Set in British India's Northeastern Frontier Region, this book examines urban emergence from colonial annexation in 1826 through independence in 1947. Drawing on archival sources and colonial cartography, it traces how key towns materialised along India's northeastern frontier as instruments of imperial control. The study reveals how British perceptions of the Brahmaputra valley as a navigable corridor through the formidable Eastern Himalayas drove strategic urbanisation. Through an in-depth analysis of Dibrugarh, the book illuminates frontier urbanism shaped by resource extraction, military conflict and racialised spatial segregation—introducing the concept of "frontier urbanism" to explain how peripheral towns functioned within imperial networks. Part of the Empire and Frontiers series, this book is essential for scholars and students of history, anthropology, borderland studies, cultural studies, imperial history and the humanities. It offers critical perspectives on how colonial spatial practices continue to influence contemporary geopolitics in Asia's borderlands, making it valuable for researchers examining empire, territoriality and the enduring legacies of colonial urbanism.