• Use Web-based GIS map layers to define the physical and historical geography of India.
• Use the historical map sequence to make connections between geographic and cultural transformations.
• Understand how historical maps are documents that provide clues to the historical landscape as the people of the time experienced it.
• Think about the ways maps help explain change over time as well as what they tell us about the world of the people who construct them

1. First, download and complete the Pre-Module Assessment Form (Word Document) and submit to your instructor.
2. Next, view the Spell of India  PowerPoint© presentation for historical context. 
3. Visit selected web sites to learn more about mapping South Asia.
4. View the PowerPoint© presentation which explains how to use the ArcIMS browser.
5. You will then use an ArcIMS browser to view a number of layers of historical, demographic, and cultural phenomena.

You can click here to start the exercise.

• Viewing the PowerPoint© Presentation about South Asia

• 10 minutes

• Viewing the PowerPoint© Presentation about using ArcIMS

• 5 minutes

• Completing the Exercise

• 90 minutes

• Computer with a printer (for on-campus work) and Internet access (preferably equipped with Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 6.0 or higher).
• If you prefer Netscape make sure you have the 7.1 version - download .
• Word processing software.
• PowerPoint© Viewer ~ slides best viewed in Internet Explore

Internet resources:

• The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection is a rich resource for digital historical maps. Read browser system requirement then follow directions to download a viewer - once loaded select, by country, all maps relating to South Asia. Insight™ software allows zoom, pan, and other navigation tools.
• The Perry-Castañeda Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin has a good online map collection. See contemporary maps of South Asia as well as Historical Maps of India. (Scroll).
• Digital South Asia Library at the University of Chicago features Maps from the Imperial Gazetteer of India.
• Roots Web, a genealogy site, has a good selection of India Historical Maps.
• World Regional Geography: South Asia - Mark L. Healy, William Rainey Harper College, World Geography course. See, What is a Monsoon.
• National Geographic: Map Machine - Scroll to Asia, select each of the countries of South Asia and follow the links (includes country profile, maps, links to CIA World Factbook entry).
• See the CIA World Factbook and select each country of South Asia for map, data, and other categories.
• Buddhism and Its Spread Along the Silk Road - One of the many useful articles and web resources maintained by the Silk Road Foundation. The Foundation's Website site monitors research, exhibitions, publications, and events relating to Central Asia and the Silk Road.
• UNESCO World Heritage List of cultural and natural properties considered to be of outstanding universal value was established by UNESCO in 1972. Scroll down the list to countries of South Asia for site and information.
• Time Map locates the individual World Heritage sites of Asia and includes a time line.
• People, Places, Event, Processes, is a Geoproject created by Jonathan A. Lee to help World History and World Geography students understand how geography, people, and events influenced long-term processes such as the diffusion of religions over long distances and over long periods of time. See: The Indian Ocean and Process: The Diffusion of World Religions

Selected Reading List

• Dutta, Simanti. Imperial mappings: In Savage Spaces : Baluchistan and British India (2002).
• Edney, Matthew H. Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843 (1997).
• Gole, Susan. Indian Maps and Plans : From Earliest Times to the Advent of European Surveys (1989)
• Keay, John, The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest was Named (2000).
• Madan, P. L. Indian Cartography: A Historical Perspective (1997

However, instructors are welcome to assign a credit value they feel appropriate. Students may be asked to complete Post-Module Assessment form.