"This gazetteer - the first of its kind - provides a comprehensive history of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the twentieth century, illustrating the economic and cultural integration of the islands into the Union of India after Independence." "The volume begins with a detailed account of the Islands' history till 1900. The Andamans are believed to have been visited by the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo in the fourteenth century. However, it was not until the late 1800s that Lt Archibald Blair of the British East India Company mapped them and established an outpost bringing them firmly under the Company's control. After the 1857 uprising, India's colonial rulers built the cellular jail - Kala Pani - for political prisoners."--BOOK JACKET.