Landscapes of Technology Transfer

Jan af Geijerstam

In the early 1860s British colonial interest commissioned three young Swedish metallurgists to plan and lead the construction of two ironworks in India. In their Indian setting, both ironworks were pioneering enterprises, based on the most modern European ironmaking technology.

Neither ironworks went into full and continuous production and the Swedes had to return to Sweden. The history of the ironworks and the Swedes forms a fascinating narrative.

Landscapes of Technology Transfer is a wide-ranging empirical study. From a local and individual perspective it traces lines of connection across boundaries of time and geography. The historical landscapes of technology transfer are described in their cultural, social, economic and political dimensions and the remains of the ironworks and their local landscapes in present-day India are used as a central source for writing their histories.