Inventing a Cartographical Image for Postcolonial India: European Models and the Politics of National Identity

Summary

This article examines the making of the first National Atlas of independent India, initiated in 1953 under the direction of geographer S. P. Chatterjee and supported by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Situating cartography within postcolonial nation-building, it shows how the atlas served to consolidate national identity, affirm territorial sovereignty, and support planned economic development. The project broke with colonial mapping traditions by adopting the metric system and using Hindi as the main language, marking a political and psychological rupture. At the same time, it drew on colonial-era institutions and scientific expertise, while benefiting from international academic exchanges and prevailing cartographic standards. By analyzing the stages of production, choices of data, format, language, and scale, the article reveals the interplay between state-directed national goals and transnational scientific collaborations. It argues that the first National Atlas was a paradoxical product: on the one hand, a state-controlled instrument of national pedagogy and centralized development; on the other, an outcome of accelerated scientific circulation and standardization. Its domestic impact was limited by the exclusive use of Hindi, unfamiliar technical vocabulary, and restricted readership. Internationally, however, it served as a modern “visiting card” for India, projecting the nation’s sovereignty and scientific capacity. The study contributes to the history of cartography, postcolonial nationalism, and scientific transfer, highlighting both continuities with colonial knowledge systems and innovations shaped by global geographic practice.