Company rule in India: Difference between revisions

In plains above Delhi, the mid-14th century [[Sultan of Delhi]], [[Firoz Shah Tughlaq]], had constructed the 150-mile long ''Western Jamna Canal''. Taking off from the right bank of the [[Yamuna river|Jamna river]] early in its course, the canal irrigated the Sultan's territories in the [[Hisar District|Hissar]] region of [[Punjab, India|Eastern Punjab]]. By the mid-16th century, however, the fine sediment carried by the [[Himalaya]]n river had gradually choked the canal. Desilted and reopened several decades later by [[Akbar the Great]], the ''Western Jamna Canal'' was itself tapped by Akbar's grandson [[Shah Jahan]], and some of its water was diverted to Delhi. During this time another canal was cut off the river. The 129-mile ''Eastern Jamna Canal'' or ''Doab Canal'', which took off from the left bank of the Jamna, also high in its course, presented a qualitatively different difficulty. Since it was cut through steeply sloped land, its flow became difficult to control, and it was never to function efficiently. With the decline of Mughal Empire power in the 18th century, both canals fell into disrepair and closed.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} The Western Jamna Canal was repaired by [[British Army]] engineers and it reopened in 1820. The Doab Canal was reopened in 1830; its considerable renovation involved raising the embankment by an average height of 9&nbsp;ft. for some 40 miles.<ref name="stone2002-p15">{{Harvnb|Stone|2002|p=15}}</ref>

Farther west in the [[Punjab region]], the 130-mile long ''Hasli Canal'', had been constructed by previous rulers.<ref name="stone2002-p13" /> Taking off from the [[Ravi river]] and supplying water to the cities of [[Lahore]] and [[Amritsar]], this left-bank canal was extended by the British in the ''[[Bari Doab]] Canal'' works during 1850–1857. The Punjab region, moreover, had much rudimentary irrigation by "inundation canals". Consisting of open cuts on the side of a river and involving no regulation, the inundation canals had been used in both the Punjab and [[Sindh]] for many centuries. The energetic administrations of the [[Sikh]] and [[Pashtun people|Pathan]] governors of Mughal West Punjab had ensured that many such canals in [[Multan]], [[Dera Ghazi Khan]], and [[Muzaffargarh]] were still working efficiently at the time of the British [[Second Anglo-Sikh War|annexation of the Punjab]] in 1849–1856 (period of tenure of the Marquess of Dalhousie Governor General).{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}