People sleeping on streets during heat - Calcutta (Kolkata) 1953

Photographed by James Burke

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

People visiting bathing ghat - Varanasi 1953

Photographed by James Burke

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

People sleeping at Howrah Station - 1953

Photographed by James Burke

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

People sleeping near Howrah Bridge Kolkata (Calcutta) - 1953

Photographed by James Burke

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

People walking on streets leading up to Ganges river - May 1953

Photographed by James Burke

Source: Life archive hosted by Google

Cow and man walking through lane - Varanasi 1953

Photographed by James Burke

Source: Life archive hosted by Google

People crossing the Ganges river on Howrah Bridge Calcutta (Kolkata) - May 1953

Photographed by James Burke.

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

Dana Dighi Lake, Dilkusha - Dhaka 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 of a large tank or reservoir in Dilkusha Gardens in Dacca (now Dhaka), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Nawab's Shahbagh Garden - Dhaka 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 with a general view looking towards a pavilion in the Nawab's Shahbagh gardens in Dacca (Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Madrassa - Dhaka 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 with a view of the facade of a madrassa in Dacca (now Dhaka), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Imambara Hosseini Dallan - Dhaka 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 with a view of the Imambara Hussaini Dalan in Dacca (now Dhaka), overlooking the tank, part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Dhaka College 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 with a view of Dacca College from the tennis courts in Dacca (now Dhaka), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Iron Suspension Bridge - Dhaka 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 with a view of the iron suspension bridge over the Dulai Creek in Dacca (now Dhaka), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Nawab's Dilkusha Garden - Dhaka 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904 of a large garden house built by the Nawabs in the Dilkusha Gardens in Dacca (now Dhaka), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection. Garden Houses were large buildings designed in the European style and set in extensive grounds. Dilkusha Gardens were adjacent to the watery Motijheel area, near swamps and marshes. The commercial heart of present-day Dhaka has since engulfed the area. Lord Curzon was Viceroy of India from 1899-1905. In February 1904, he toured Eastern Bengal and visited Dhaka on the 18th and 19th where he stayed at the Ahsan Manzil Palace. This album of gelatine-silver prints commemorates his Dhaka visit, though it is not a record of it and only presents us with general views. Kapp worked as a commercial photographer from the 1880s onwards and had studios in Chowringhee Road and Humayun Place in Calcutta. From the early 1900s he had a studio in Wise Ghat Road in Dhaka.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Mitford Hospital Dhaka - 1904

Photograph taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904, with a general view of the Mitford Hospital taken from the grounds, in Dacca (now Dhaka), part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection. The hospital is one of the largest in Dhaka and is part of the oldest medical institute in the country. It is situated in the old part of the city on the banks of the Buriganga river.

Source: bl.uk ( British Library)

Nawab's Shahbagh Garden - Dhaka 1904

Photograph looking towards a water-tower in the Shahbagh Gardens in Dacca (Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh), taken by Fritz Kapp in 1904, part of an album of 30 prints from the Curzon Collection.

Source: bl.uk ( British Library)

River scene - Dhaka 1875

Photograph taken of a river scene in Dhaka district in the 1870s by an unknown photographer. This photograph illustrates a scene on the Buriganga River at an unidentified location in the Dhaka region in Bangladesh.

Source: bl.uk ( British Library)

Puraria Paltan Maidan, small mosque - Dhaka 1875

Photograph of a small mosque on the Puraria Paltan Maidan at Dhaka in Bangladesh. It was taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer. In this view, the small mosque is almost hidden by a tree.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

View of a path through a wood, Dhaka District - 1875

Photograph of a path through a wood at an unidentified location in the Dhaka district in Bangladesh taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Bara Katra, south view - Dhaka 1875

Photograph taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer of the Bara Katra in Dhaka, now capital of Bangladesh. The Bara Katra was built by Abul Qasim in 1664, as a caravanserai or resting-place for merchants and their camel trains, and is situated on the eastern bank of the River Buriganga near the centre of the city. The name means a large building with an enclosed quadrangle; the word 'katra' is probably derived from the Arabic for cupola, but similar words in Persian (meaning tent or pavilion) and Sanskrit (meaning umbrella) also exist. In front of it lay a large cannon, half-buried in the sand which became submerged by water during the monsoon. In the 19th century James Atkinson described the building, with its high, octagonal turrets as 'a stupendous pile of grand and beautiful architecture.'

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Hanging Bridge at Dhaka - 1875

Photograph of the Hanging Bridge at Dhaka taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Street scene in Dhaka - 1875

Photograph of a street scene in Dhaka,taken in the 1870s, by an unknown photographer. The city is situated on the banks of the Buriganga River and is crossed by a branch of the Dolai Creek.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Dhaka River Scenery - 1875

Photograph of a river scene taken in Dhaka district in the 1870s by an unknown photographer. This view illustrates a scene with a temple on the banks of the Buriganga River at an unidentified location in the Dhaka region in Bangladesh.

Dhaka is now capital of Bangladesh.

Source: bl.uk (British Library)

Lalbagh Fort - Dhaka 1875

View of the south gate to Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort, south entrance, south view

Lalbagh Fort, south entrance, north view

Photograph taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer of the Lal Bagh Fort in Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh. Prince Muhammad Azam, the son of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, began building the Fort in about 1677 but it was never completed. One of the principal attractions in the Old City of Dhaka, it has three storeys and the complex contains many buildings including the tomb of Pari Bibi or 'Fairy Lady', the wife of a Mughal governor of Bengal, and a huge mosque. The area has a hot, damp tropical climate and is flooded periodically by waters from the Bay of Bengal as well as from the yearly moonsoon. By the 19th century many of the once-elegant Mughal buildings in the city were left in ruins by the action of both the climate and the resultant wildly luxuriant overgrowth of trees and vegetation which lent them a picturesque look and made them popular subjects for artists and photographers.

Source: bl.uk

St Thomas' Church, Dhaka - 1875

Photograph of St Thomas's Church at Dhaka in Bangladesh taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer. Formerly Dhaka was a Mughal capital and later the headquarters of the Division and District of the same name. Dhaka was famous for centuries for its production by skilled local craftsmen of fine cotton muslins which were tested by passing the finished piece of cloth through a lady's ring. The city is situated on the banks of the Buriganga River and is crossed by a branch of the Dolai Creek. It is now the capital city of Bangladesh.

Source: bl.uk

Jewelers at Darya Khan (Pakistan) display their wares - 1929

Photographer: Franklin Price Knott
From National Geographic Collection

A man and elephant stand in the court of honor in a palace of Akbar - 1926

Photographer: Gervais Courtellemont
From National Geographic Collection

A decorated elephant awaits the Maharaja - Jaipur 1929

Photographer: Franklin Price Knott
From National Geographic Collection