Guns on the Frontier: Firearms Circulation on the Edges of Empire

By Lipokmar Dzüvichü*

“There is no doubt … that all the tribes from Kurribarry in the Garrow Hills, on the Berhampootra, through Jynteah and the Cachar Hills southwards to Chittagong have of late years been able [to] freely … provide guns for themselves from Birmingham.”[i] This information forms part of a report dispatched to the Secretary, Government of Bengal, on 31 March, 1869, by F. B. Simpson. As the Officiating Commissioner of the Dacca Division, F. B. Simpson was apprehensive about the ease with which firearms were acquired by the “tribes” in the frontier. While the ports of Calcutta and Chittagong were considered important nodes through which the imported firearms were circulated, what was even more worrisome to Simpson was that even the smaller marts on the rivers of Chittagong, Noakhally, and Dacca, especially the mart at “Naraingunge where traders visit from all the Arracan and Burmese ports,” formed important outlets for this trade. To curb this unregulated flow of firearms, Simpson proposed a “stringent policy” on the importation of firearms from England or foreign ports while simultaneously suggesting the enforcement of “much more stringent regulations” for the ports of Calcutta and Chittagong.

This official letter illustrates some of the issues that I attempt to examine in my current ongoing research and that are broadly explored in this essay. For instance, at one level, the above example highlights the significant role of global centres of production and trade in the diffusion of firearms, especially on the imperial margins. At another level, it illustrates the variety of transport hubs, channels, networks, and actors involved in the movement and trade of firearms.

This “undesirable” flow of firearms in turn also engendered various reactions, such as the framing of various colonial prohibitory and surveillance measures. A focus on these complex issues thus sheds light on the intricate links between the arms flow along the imperial margins and other wider global processes, networks, and circulation in the 19^th and first half of the 20^th century.[ii] In turn, examining the arms flow also opens new and interesting avenues of research to explore the global history of this commodity, especially in the context of the imperial margins and the connections to wider historical processes.

Prior to the early 19^th century, the use of firearms in the region was evident to a certain extent. However, in many ways, the intrusion of the colonial state, global capital, and the drawing of new borders, especially after the 1830s and 40s, generated new dynamics in the frontier geographies, which in turn stepped up the circulation of firearms in the frontier tracts. By the 1850s and 1860s, the spread of firearms among frontier societies became a subject of pressing concern for the colonial government. In fact, by the 1860s, colonial officials reported the import of “very large number of muzzle-loading smooth-bore cheap Birmingham arms.”[iii] These weapons, as one police official in Calcutta reported, could be procured for a few shillings. Officials were aware that many of these “cheap” guns eventually found their way into the hands of the frontier “hill tribes.”

Tracking the flow of firearms in the colonial archives gives us an idea of the scale and conduits through which this commodity was moved and traded. For instance, most firearms reaching the frontier tracts were moved and traded “illegally” through a web of networks and actors, which included licensed dealers, traders, and agents in Calcutta, Chittagong, Akyab, Sylhet, Cachar, Tipperah, Assam, and Manipur. Other conduits included European firms, Eurasians, and planters. Ports, markets, and bazaars were some of the significant spaces through which firearms were diffused, traded, and circulated to various indigenous groups in the region. Take the Lushais, for instance. We learn from the colonial reports that the Lushais acquired muskets and sulphur from Cachar, Sylhet, Tipperah, and Chittagong.[iv]

A focus on the movement of this commodity shows how firearms were conveyed and circulated through various river and land routes as well as ports and oceanic routes. These flows, in turn, were often linked to other wider global processes and circuits, including technological change, arms transfer, diffusion, and trade. For instance, guns found among the Lakhers are said to be part of the surplus weapons disposed of in Europe at the end of the Napoleonic Wars; having “trickle[d] [in]to these wilds” through Chittagong and Akyab.[v] Guns in the frontier tracts were also traced to localities and manufacturers located in various other imperial metropoles. Examining the firearms in transit illustrates a web of interconnections that straddled multiple scales, spaces, practices, and relations.