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| Please explore the exhibition by clicking on the frames above or on the cabinet below |
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For nearly two hundred years Dundee's prosperity was dependent on the textile industry and, in particular, on the manufacturing of jute grown in India. Dundee was the largest jute manufacturer in the world and a vital market for Indian jute producers. By the early 20th century however Calcutta had overtaken Dundee as the dominant centre for the production of jute. Nevertheless, the two cities maintained close links and until the 1970s many of the overseers, managers and mechanics working in Bengal jute mills came from Dundee.
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This exhibition "Dundee and India Roots, Rivalry and Interdependence" which illustrates and explains Dundee's former industrial links with India was opened on 22nd February 2005 by Mr Kamalesh Sharma, the Indian High Commissioner. A special lecture by Professor Chris Whatley, Professor of Scottish History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, explained the city's long relationship with India dating back to the late eighteenth century. "Dundonians modernised India's jute industry. The industrial relationship started when flax became too expensive and Dundee turned to India for jute. At one point in Calcutta, the majority of mill managers were Dundonians. Mill machinery from Dundee such as shafts and girders were shipped out to India in vast quantities and Dundee's technical institute provided training for mill managers." |  |
This exhibition uses items from collections held by the University Archives to demonstrate the ties that existed between Dundee and India in the 19th and 20th centuries.