Colonialism and the City

Shahjahanabad: Built by Emperor Shah Jahan between 1638 and 1648; the seventh city of Delhi. Designed as an imperial capital, it was enclosed by massive city walls with 14 gates (11 still surviving in altered forms — Kashmiri Gate, Delhi Gate, Ajmeri Gate, etc.).

Key features:

• Red Fort (Lal Qila): The imperial palace-complex; completed 1648; red sandstone and white marble; contained the Diwan-i-Aam (Hall of Public Audience), Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience), royal apartments, and gardens; the Mughal emperor held court here. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Jama Masjid: One of the largest mosques in India; completed 1656; capacity to hold 25,000 worshippers; built on an elevated platform (Jahanpanah) facing the Red Fort.
• Chandni Chowk: The main bazaar street, designed by Shah Jahan's daughter Jahanara Begum; once had a canal running down its centre (since filled); a hub of trade, crafts, banking (sahukars), and culture.
• Havelis: Grand mansions of Mughal nobles; densely packed in neighbourhoods (mohallas); architecture reflected status and wealth.
• Mixed urban life: Nobles, artisans, merchants, soldiers, poets, musicians — all lived in proximity. The city had no racial segregation.

After the British recaptured Delhi in September 1857, they treated the city as a conquered enemy capital:

Deliberate destruction:

• The area around the Red Fort was cleared of buildings — a large swathe of the city demolished to create open space (the "glacis" — a sloping open area giving clear lines of fire and preventing rebels from approaching the fort unseen). This destroyed many historic buildings, mosques, and havelis.
• The Red Fort itself was converted into a military cantonment for British troops — it ceased to be a palace and became a barracks.
• Jama Masjid was temporarily closed to Muslim worshippers; the British considered demolishing it but ultimately retained it.
• Several mosques in the cleared zone were pulled down; some were converted to barracks or stables.

Cultural humiliation:

• Delhi's Muslim population was expelled from the city for several months after the revolt — allowed to return only gradually.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried in the Red Fort itself — in the place that had been the seat of Mughal imperial power for two centuries. The trial was deliberately staged in the durbar hall.
• Many Mughal-era buildings were repurposed or demolished in subsequent decades; churches and government buildings were erected in cleared areas.

Long-term legacy: The 1857 events left a mark on Delhi's urban landscape — old Shahjahanabad retained much of its character but the cleared zones became military/administrative areas. The experience shaped colonial urban policy elsewhere too.

Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944): Principal architect of New Delhi. He designed:

• Viceroy's House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan): A massive domed building at the apex of the main ceremonial axis (Kingsway, now Rajpath/Kartavya Path); combines classical European (dome, columns) with Indian elements (chhatris, red sandstone, the "Delhi Order" capital — an adaptation of the bell capital with an Indian motif). Area: ~330 acres; 340 rooms.
• The overall layout: A triangular plan with Viceroy's House at the apex; Kingsway (now Kartavya Path) as the central axis leading to the India Gate (All India War Memorial, designed by Lutyens); North and South Secretariats flanking Kingsway; Parliament House at a diagonal.

Herbert Baker (1862–1946): Lutyens's collaborator; designed:

• Secretariat Buildings (North Block and South Block) — flanking Rajpath
• Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan) — circular building with colonnaded veranda; now part of the Parliament complex alongside the new Parliament building (inaugurated 2023)

Ideological message of New Delhi's design:

• Viceroy's House placed at the highest point — visually dominant, symbolically supreme
• The "Grand Axe" (Kingsway) oriented Mughal monuments (Humayun's Tomb) on the distant horizon — the British literally placed themselves at the culmination of Indian imperial history
• Wide, straight roads allowed rapid military movement — a lesson from 1857 (narrow Shahjahanabad lanes had made British movement difficult)
• "Bungalow zone" — spacious garden bungalows for British officers; "native quarters" — densely populated areas for Indian employees; racial spatial segregation built into the city plan

British colonial cities followed a template replicated across India:

Cantonment: A separate military settlement — planned, spacious, with parade grounds, barracks, officers' bungalows, churches, and clubs. Located away from the "native town" — the cantonment was a British island within Indian territory. Delhi, Meerut, Lucknow, Pune, Secunderabad all have cantonments.

Civil Lines: The residential area for British civilian officers — bungalows with gardens, wide roads, clubs. Always located adjacent to the cantonment and away from the "native city."

"Black Town" / "Native Town": The densely populated Indian area — organic, unplanned, with narrow lanes, mixed uses (shops, residences, workshops together), no systematic drainage. "Black Town" was the British term in Calcutta for the Indian area north of the European settlement.

Garden city concept: Lutyens and Baker were influenced by Ebenezer Howard's Garden City movement — the idea of a planned city with open spaces, trees, and low density. New Delhi was designed as a "garden city" — with wide tree-lined avenues, roundabouts with gardens, and each bungalow compound as a small garden. This contrasted sharply with the density of Shahjahanabad.

Racial segregation as urban policy: The separation of "European" and "native" areas was not accidental — it was deliberate policy. It served security (easy to monitor; Europeans would not be trapped in Indian areas in an emergency), social (maintaining a physical distance from Indians), and administrative purposes. This segregation became the foundation of apartheid-era South African city planning — South Africa's towns were often built by British colonial planners trained in India.

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI): Founded in 1861 under the British India government, with Alexander Cunningham as its first Director-General (served 1861–65 and 1870–85). Cunningham had been interested in India's ancient sites since the 1830s; his surveys established the framework for Indian archaeology.

Key contributions:

• Systematic survey and documentation of ancient sites across India
• Excavation of sites including Harappa (Cunningham recognised it as a major ancient site), Taxila, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya
• Publication of Annual Reports and Archaeological Survey Reports — foundational texts of Indian archaeology

Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904: Passed under Lord Curzon (Viceroy 1899–1905) — the first legislation in India providing legal protection to ancient monuments. Key provisions:

• Central government could declare any structure of historical, archaeological, or artistic interest a "protected monument"
• Owners of protected monuments could not alter or destroy them without government permission
• Government could acquire protected monuments
• Private owners could be compensated

This Act was a significant step — for the first time, the state assumed responsibility for preserving India's built heritage. It replaced informal practices with legal protection.

Post-independence: The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 replaced the 1904 Act. ASI now protects ~3,693 centrally protected monuments. The Ministry of Culture oversees ASI.