South Asian Studies Resources: Historical Sources

The South Asia Archive is a landmark collection of 4.5 million pages of documents from across the Indian subcontinent from 1700 to 1953, originally collected by the South Asian Research Foundation (SARF). It’s the largest collection of books, journals and documents from the region, covering India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

Includes:
Module 1: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947
Module 2: Factory Records for South Asia and South-East Asia
Module 3: Factory Records for China, Japan and the Middle East
Module 4: Correspondence: Early Voyages, Formation and Conflict
Module 5: Correspondence: Domestic Life, Governance and Territorial Expansion
Module 6: Board of Commissioners: Establishment of the Board
Module 7: The Board of Commissioners: Expansion, Control and Education

This digital resource allows students and researchers to access a vast and remarkable collection of primary source documents from the India Office Records held by the British Library, the single most important archive for the study of the East India Company.

Historical newspapers include Ceylon Observer (Sri Lanka), Indian People (Allahabad), Kayasare hinda (Bombay), Leader (Allahabad), Madras Mail (Madras), Pioneer (Allahabad), and Tribune (Lahore).

This collection of files from the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and Dominions Office focuses on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 consists of the complete run of documents in the series DO 133, DO 134 and FCO 37, as well as all documents covering the Indian subcontinent in the FO 371 series. Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region.

Empire Online offers about 60,000 images of original documents linked to essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies. 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 (c1783-1969). Maps, manuscripts, pamphlets, paintings, drawings, and rare books are included. Five centuries of history are represented.

Archive of primary sources from the nineteenth century (1800s), including Asia and the West: Diplomacy & Cultural Exchange.

Including House of Commons and House of Lords papers as well as other materials from 1660 to 2015.