Ecological and political instability have time and again emerged as catalysts for risky development projects along India's south-west coastline. Devika Shankar probes this complicated relationship between crisis and development through a focus on a port development project executed in Cochin in the first quarter of the twentieth century amidst significant political and ecological uncertainty. While ecological concerns were triggered by increasing coastal erosion, a political crisis was precipitated by a neighbouring princely state's unprecedented attempt to extend its sovereignty over the British port. This integrative environmental, legal, and political history brings together the history of British India and the princely states to show how these anxieties ultimately paved the way for an ambitious port development project in the final years of colonial rule. In the process it deepens our understanding of environmental transformations and development in modern South Asia and the uneven nature of colonial sovereignty.

‘An Encroaching Sea breaks new ground for the study of infrastructure across the colonial and postcolonial divide in South Asia. Shankar’s path-breaking work takes a micro-historical approach to an infrastructural project i.e. Cochin Harbour to show how economic and environmental concerns around port development and coastal erosion might allow us to recast 20th century histories of sovereignty, jurisdiction and environment in South Asia. A very timely addition that will deepen our understanding of development, climate catastrophe and Indian ocean coastlines.’

Debjani Bhattacharyya - University of Zürich

‘An Encroaching Sea is a brilliant and original contribution to both environmental history and legal history - and it blends them in new ways. Based on rigorous and extensive archival research in India and beyond, Devika Shankar shows how the British colonial state responded to ecological anxieties and legal challenges from princely states by building a massive port in Cochin harbour. Shankar traces the deep roots of an enduring pattern: states, when faced with unruly ecologies, double down on their faith in infrastructure. This stimulating book deserves the widest possible audience.’

Sunil Amrith - Yale University