Island networks: Telecommunications in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the early twentieth century

Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, British colonial discourse was marked by a concern with new forms of telecommunication (telephony and wireless) for maintaining the security of their far-flung possessions. Historically located in an area of intense commercial and social activity, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal became marginalised in the colonial narrative. Initially occupied for strategic reasons, the islands were used to incarcerate criminals and political prisoners after 1857. The desire to stay connected to the Indian mainland and the simultaneous need to maintain the isolation of the prisoner population made the islands a fertile ground for discussion over a secure system of communication. Telecommunications became the new tool to mitigate the fear and anxiety, both real and imagined, generated by this geography and its inhabitants. This article will analyse how geopolitics framed the establishment of communication lines in the region and how the information flows were monitored to maintain control. Since new technologies had the potential to disrupt old orders of information, censorship became as crucial as connection. The article will also look at how technology in turn challenged imperial hegemony and revealed the inconsistencies within the workings of the colonial state.