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Edges of Empire

KNW 2399: Edges of Empire

Transportation of Fledgling Nations

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Cambio_Water_Station_and_Junction_of_Rackroad_and_Adhesion_Road

Baldwin Locomotive Works. Cambio Water Station and Junction of Rackroad and Adhesion Road. ca. 1899-1909. Baldwin Locomotive Works: Foreign Locomotive Photographs, Durango, Mexico. http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/mex/id/1831

The first photograph is from the Mexico collection at the DeGolyer Library. It is a photograph of a railroad stop in Durango, Mexico. The photo depicts a group of workers posing alongside their trains and some buildings on the right side of the photo were probably made of clay. The men are all dressed similarly apart from the man on the far left. He could be the person in charge or the conductor of the train. As for the station, it looks like some sort of mining operation is going on nearby because of all of the cars filled with minerals. Like in the photograph from India, the place that this photo depicts seems nearly impossible to reach at this point in history without this railroad. It is very arid and mountainous. It would be very difficult to live out there without supplies from outside. In the photo of Mexico there are only male workers as compared to the photo of India where there are women at the worksite. Both photos were taken in the 1890s and they show the development of technology in their respective countries. Locomotives were the way that countries were able to move people to remote areas from urban centers and both photos suggest that Mexico and India were working on spreading their population out around the same time.

BengalNagpur_Railway_Construction_Photograph_No_29

Townshend. [Bengal-Nagpur Railway Construction, Photograph No. 29]. 1890. Bengal-Nagpur Railway, India. http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/eaa/id/1490

The second photograph is of the construction of Bengal-Nagpur railway in India. It shows a large group of workers who appear to be taking a break from their work. There are a significant number of huts, most likely built for the workers on this project. Along with the aforementioned similarities between the two photographs, there are many differences as well. The workers in this photograph look to be of a much lower class than the miners in the Mexican photograph because of the clothes that they are wearing. The huts that house the workers are made of different materials, probably based on the availability of building materials. It appears that the Mexican workers are housed in buildings made from the clay soil in the area, while the Indian workers are housed in wooden cabins presumably built using the trees nearby. One other difference that can be deduced from knowledge about these countries at the time is that India used the railways for transportation more than the Mexicans, whereas the Mexicans used their railroads to transport heavy minerals and other goods that they were mining. At this point in history Mexico was an independent country whereas India was still part of the British Empire. Without aid from Spain, Mexico needed to stimulate its economy. This is probably why they had railroads like in this photo, to mine minerals that they could use to develop their fledgling country. On the other hand, India was primarily an agricultural state that provided resources for Britain. Field workers generally do not need a railway to transport them to their fields. This being the case, the Indian railways were probably primarily made to make traveling from city to city much easier. These railways were obviously both for transportation, but for very different economic reasons.

 

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