South Asia Primary Sources

SAOA is a collection of primary and secondary sources from and about South Asia covering the arts, humanities, and social sciences, in English and South Asian languages. Core areas are Caste & Social Structure, History of Science, Language & Literature, Social Political & Economic History, Women & Gender. Also featured are a wealth of publications of abstracts in English from local newspapers published across India between 1874 and 1921.

Search a vast collection of India Office Records from the British Library, London. Contains royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947. Includes research tools, essays, chronology, etc.

Materials documenting the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 to the granting of independence for India and Pakistan in 1947. The sources range from the papers of key East India Company representatives and colonial officials to records of daily life in Agra, Bombay, Lahore, and Madras. Materials are from the National Library of Scotland.

Search original documents and primary sources for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences including exploration, colonization and more including British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German points of view, as well as that of indigenous peoples from Africa, India and North America. The sections cover Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion and Empire; and Race, Class and Colonialism, c 1783-1969.

Search primary source collections of the nineteenth century (1800s) with books, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more. Topics include British politics, theater and music; European literature, Asian exploration, photography, and more.

Explore British Foreign Office files addressing political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Includes content on Bangladesh, Ceylon/Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Kashmir, and the Maldives. Materials include diplomatic dispatches, inward and outward telegrams, newspaper cuttings and transcripts, maps, photographs, political and economic reports, accounts of visits and tours, minutes of meetings, conference proceedings, letters, leaflets, and ephemera.

Find House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1660. Includes Records of proceedings, the Debates (Hansard), and the House of Commons journal; Sessional papers providing information to parliament on matters of policy and administration: Bills, House papers, and Command papers. Also includes the House of Lords presented to the Commons, such as reports prepared by Lords Select Committees.