ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book traces the lineage and the making of the genre of guidebooks on India from the 18th century Vade Mecums to the present-day Lonely Planet travel guides. It examines the complex nature of travel accounts which can be placed on the cusp of literary geography, history and scientific expeditions in the Himalayan region. The book proposes major entrepot of important trade routes and the changes and continuities in this region shaped by colonialism and modernisation. It explores the vibrant transoceanic trade routes that decayed and dried with the establishment of European trade posts in crucial parts of coastal India. The historiographical framing has been obviously mediated by a wide spectrum of source materials, documentations, individual perceptions and interests. The 18th century beckoned in an age of European-styled geographical consciousness manifesting through myriad modes of knowledge practices, which affected both adherence and resistance.
