The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.76

v1.c15.76

Two new facts have of recent years altered all the relations of India with the outer world, and have vitally changed the conditions of internal government as compared with those prevailing even as late as the Mutiny. The first of these facts was the opening of the Suez Canal, and the second was the construction, and as regards main lines the virtual completion, of the Indian railway system. Formerly shipping came round the Cape of Good Hope, and it was as easy to steer a course for Calcutta as for Bombay. To-day only bulky cargo is taken from Suez and Aden round the southern point of India through the Bay of Bengal to Calcutta. The fast mail boats run to Bombay, and thence the railways diverge south-eastward, north-eastward, and northward to all the frontiers of the Empire. Only the Burmese railways remain for the present a detached system. But in regard to tonnage of traffic Calcutta is still the first port of India, for the country which lies in rear of it—Bengal, Bihār, and the United Provinces—contains more than a hundred million people.