Routes, Forts, Environment, and the Making of Imperial Frontiers

Abstract

This chapter unravels the dynamics of the formation of imperial frontiers in the Mughal empire. Eschewing the idea that frontiers were simply areas far away from the political heartland, the chapter argues that frontiers of Mughal power emerged due to the conjuncture of several processes. These included failures to control routes of communication, cope with environmental conditions, negotiate the military techniques of their adversaries, and co-opt local zamindars into the imperial project. It shows how two regions—the Afghan belt and Bengal–Assam—emerged as long-standing imperial frontiers through these processes. In effect, frontiers signified zones of fading imperial authority and increasing scope of personal agency and ambition of military commanders. Physically, they did not resemble the closed, enveloping borders of modern times; rather, they were embodied by forts that commanded routes of communication that emanated radially outward from within the imperial domain.