SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with some aspects of the development of the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, which was created in 1905 during the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon. It covers the period from 1905 to 1911. No research work has previously been done on the growth of the province, although most of the works on twentieth-century Indian nationalism refer to or devote some pages to its creation. Contemporary and recent studies --- Fraser's India Under Curzon and After, Ronaldshay's Life of Lord Curzon, Wasti's Lord Minto and the Indian Nationalist Movement 1905-1911, and various London University theses, such as Ahmed's Some Aspects of the History of the Muslim Community in Bengal (1884-1912), McLane's The Development of Nationalist Ideas and Tactics: 1897-1905 and Zaidi's The Partition of Bengal and its Annulment --- give accounts of the partition and the agitation that followed it or the politics involved in it. However, they have not analysed the social and economic development that took place in the new province after the partition. The present work is a humble attempt to construct the history of the province: it gives in brief the circumstances leading to the emergence of the province, and discusses the progress of the province in transport and trade, indigenous industry and education. An attempt is also made to study some Bengali historical writings of both Hindus and Muslims in order to see the reasons stimulating them to write; two Muslim journals are examined to discover the Muslim attitude to the changes taking place and to social problems. This thesis is mainly based on the proceedings of the government of Eastern Bengal and Assam, the private papers of relevant administrators and the records of the government of India. Government reports, various journals, newspapers and printed books have also been consulted.