TheBritishEmpiretransportedthousandsofIndianconvictstoformapenalcolonyintheAndamanIslands.Theformationofthepenalcolonyinvolvedawiderangeofdocumentation.Administrativestudies,reports,andcommentarieswereregularlyproducedonavarietyofsubjectssuchasprisonreforms,convictsandtheirfamilies,aboriginepeoplesoftheland,localagricultureandtrade,andIndianOceanpolitics.AlltheseconstitutetheAndamanArchives.Apartfromofficialsources,differentkindsofprivatesourcesalsocomewithintheambitoftheArchives.Theseincludelettersandautobiographicalnarrativeswrittenbyprisonersandservingofficials,documentspreparedbytheIndianNationalCongressontheconditionofthepoliticalprisonersaswellasnewspaperreportsontheColonypublishedinIndiaandBritain.Withadetailedcriticalintroductionthatrecountsthegenesisofthepenalsettlementinthenineteenth-centuryandfollowsitsstorytillthearrivaloftheAzadHindarmyofSubhasChandraBoseintheAndamansduringtheSecondWorldWar,AcrosstheBlackWater,forthefirsttime,bringstothereadersacollectionofkeydocumentsfromtheAndamanArchives.ThesedocumentshavestoodwitnesstohistoriceventsnotonlyofthepenalcolonybutalsooftheIndiannationalfreedommovement.TheyhelptoreconstructtherelationshipsofimportantfiguressuchasV.D.Savarkar,R.N.Tagore,andM.K.Gandhiwithimperialcourtoflawandpenalsystems.ThebookwillbeofvitalinteresttoacademicscholarswhopursueresearchaswellastowiderpublicwhoarecuriousaboutthehistoryofmodernSouthAsiaatlarge.
