See the prop edition — three engraved plates, with a magnifier
Three maps: the country around the city, the city as the party will move through it, and the compound they are living in.
The Environs
What it answers: how far everything is, and which way the river runs. The European enclaves lie fifteen to twenty miles upriver, Baranagar and its ghats about eight miles north, Howrah and the Botanic Garden across a river with no bridge, and the Garden Reach anchorage downstream past Ashworth’s residence.
The City
What it answers: where everything is, and how far apart.
| On the map | What it is |
|---|---|
| Chandpal Ghat | Where they came ashore on 8 October. The principal European landing place in Bengal |
| The Strand | The working riverfront. The godowns — the warehouses everything passes through — are here |
| Fort William | The garrison, south of the landing. Star-shaped, enormous, and the military heart of British India |
| The Maidan | The open ground around the Fort. Riding, drilling, and being seen |
| Chowringhee | The southern edge of the European quarter, where the Cavendish compound stands |
| St John’s | The settlement’s social hub, near the Esplanade |
| Government House, the Council House, the Writers Building | The machinery of Company government |
| The Gazette office | The settlement’s newspaper |
| Barabazar, Chitpur Road, Sutanuti | Black Town — the Indian city, north, and many times larger than the European quarter |
| Howrah, the Botanic Garden | The west bank. No bridge exists — everything crosses by ferry |
| The Hooghly | The reason the city is here. Everything moves on it |
The Cavendish Compound
What it answers: who sleeps where, and who else lives inside the wall.
The party’s household on the eastern edge of Chowringhee — a walled compound with a gate and a durwan on it, a main bungalow, two guest houses, stables, and servants’ quarters. Around twenty-two people live inside that wall.
- West House — Emma and Georgiana, with Mrs Ashby
- East House — Freddy, Adrien and Thomas
- The main bungalow — Hugh, Meg and little Freddy
- A cabin by the stables — Pratap Singh
- The front verandah is the evening room, and nothing said on it is private
See also
- The City of Palaces — Bengal in 1814, and what you have walked into
- Calcutta Season Calendar — what is on, and when
- Calcutta 1814 — the city itself
- Cavendish Compound — the household
Relationships
- Part of Calcutta 1814 — A map of the city and the party's household within it