The storm came on the night of 31 October. It was a full moon, and the tides were at their peak; the great rivers of eastern Bengal were full of monsoon rain. In the early hours the inhabitants of the coast and islands were overtaken by an immense wave from the Bay of Bengal -- a wall of water that reached a height of 40 feet in some places. The wave swept away everything in its path, drowning around 215,000 people. At least another 100,000 died in the cholera epidemic and famine that followed. It was the worst calamity of its kind in recorded history. Such events are often described as "natural disasters." Kingsbury turns that interpretation on its head, showing that the cyclone of 1876 was not simply a "natural" event, but one shaped by all-too-human patterns of exploitation and inequality -- by divisions within Bengali society, and the enormous disparities of political and economic power that characterized British rule on the subcontinent. With Bangladesh facing rising sea levels and stronger, more frequent storms, there is every reason to revisit this terrible calamity. An Imperial Disaster is troubling but essential reading: history for an age of climate change.

This study is divided into four sections. The first provides the 'basics': all of the available data concerning the ship and its passengers, the contemporary accounts of the wreck, and the official reports of enquiry. The second offers 'reasons' for the disaster, both imperial and local. The short-term 'impacts' of the wreck in both colony and metropolis are examined in the third section, and the concluding part reflects on the longer-term 'echoes' in Tasmania - its impact on maritime affairs, the subsequent lives of the survivors, and the various acts of remembrance.

The Imperial Gazetteer Of India Has Been Accepted As An Authoritative And Comprehensive Study Of India In All The Richness Of Her Life And Culture. The First Four Volumes Deal With The `The Indian Empire` Respectively Entitled `Descriptive` `Historical` `Economic And Administrative` And Next Twenty Constitute The Alphabetic Series And The Last, The Index And The Atlas. Main Body Of The Gazatteers Beginning With Volume V Has Been Written By The Imperial Officials Who Had Acquired Local Experience As Census Superintendents Of Their Provinces And Articles Are Based On Material Collected By District Officers And Officials Of Native States, Supplemented By Special Contribution First Published In 1908.

Analyzes the extent of the developed world's commitment to consumption economics, and how radical but necessary changes in the world can come about. Rudolf Bahro maps the route by which a new civilization may be built, from the bottom up, by the users of it - people.