Dr. Francis Buchanan’s remarkable travelogue of 1798 is a living portrait of the history and geography of South-East Bengal. This invaluable manuscript, which lay in the British Library archives for a long time, has been presented again to the current generation by researcher Willem van Schendel. About nine years before the famous 'Statistical Survey' of 1807, when Buchanan began an expedition in the Chittagong and Comilla regions on behalf of the East India Company to find land suitable for spice cultivation, he did not remain limited only to agricultural possibilities. Rather, in his sharp observations, the socio-economic and cultural realities of an unknown settlement extending from the Karnaphuli to the Naaf River and into the deep forests of the Chittagong Hill Tracts emerged.
The lifestyle of diverse ethnic groups of that time is reflected in every page of this book. Buchanan was the first person to record detailed documentary descriptions of the lifestyles of the Chakma, Marma, Mro, and Khumi. Additionally, the precise descriptions he gave of the archaeological importance of historical places like Mainamati and Sitakunda and the topography of the Meghna basin are still considered a primary source by historians. This travelogue is not just a description of the past, but an essential document for understanding the ethnic diversity, agricultural evolution, and the beginning of the colonial rule of the south-eastern region of present-day Bangladesh. For history lovers and researchers, this collection will be the best medium to reconnect with a forgotten chapter lost in the flow of time.