The District Gazetteer is a comprehensive geographical, economic, social and cultural catalogue of the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n subcontinent catalogued by the
British Viceroy
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...
during the conquest of India. Most of the catalogues were compiled initially in the late 19th century although many have since been reissued or edited in recent times.
Until the publication of the Gazetteers, an attempt to systematically catalogue Indian geography and culture was not available, with the closest approximation being
Abu'l Fazl's
Ain-I-Akbari
The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' ( fa, ) or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language. It for ...
, compiled during the reign of
Akbar the Great
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
.
While many of the Gazetteers are available to the public,
[{{cite news, url=http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/gazetteer.php?level=2&showFile=1&gazetteerSqlId=20020422124737&gazetteerMainId=&gazetteerFile2Id=&distId=19&gazId=20020422121541&pubYear=&fileExists=&headingSqlName=Preface&chapter=, title=Aurangabad, Maharashtra, District Gazetteer] their accuracy is a subject of much dispute among academicians and scholars. They are still not to be neglected in that they are one of the more comprehensive attempts by a third-party source to catalogue the immense cultural history of the Indian subcontinent.
References
Geography of India
Gazetteers of India