Nineteenth century

In the middle of the eighteenth century Great Britain took possession of much of the Indian subcontinent. During the next several decades British surveyors set about making accurate maps of India and of the regions to the north, in the Himalayas. The British felt that in order to keep their Indian holdings safe from the powerful nearby empires of Russia and China, they needed to expand their geographic knowledge, especially of the remote mountain kingdoms of Nepal and Tibet.

Getting that information was difficult, for the mountainous terrain made traveling treacherous. British surveyors also encountered hostile native inhabitants and, after a while, some countries closed their borders to them. In order to continue their mapmaking, the British began training Indians to secretly carry out their surveys for them, disguised as merchants or pilgrims in order to enter forbidden areas.

India’s “pundit-explorers”