Modern India in German Archives, 1706-1989 (MIGA)

A multitude of short- and long-term exchange relationships, which developed between German-speaking areas of Europe and the Indian subcontinent since the early modern era, contributed to comprehensive and as yet insufficiently used India-related historical source materials. The project has five key objectives: 1. To systematically record the German archive resources related to the history of modern India and the history of Indo-German interconnection in a database and create an index of keywords, starting with the establishment of the Dänisch-Hallesche Mission in South India (1706) and ending with the German reunification (1989/90); 2. To make this database available for international researchers as a growing/sustainable open resource database for specific research; 3. To gradually create a digital archive guide by systematically recording the archive resources, which enables international research and also permits a wider audience an overview of the relevant archive resources in their thematic diversity; 4. To demonstrate the potential of German archive resources in an exemplary way through a series of pilot research projects and a resultant publication series in order to a) promote intensive research especially by German and Indian historians as well as b) create the necessary multilingual and interregional qualification profiles; 5. To contribute through targeted measures, namely through an Indo-German tandem structure of pilot projects, to a sustainable realization to the aim of intensifying Indo-German research relationships in the humanities as formulated during the bilateral symposium of the DFG and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) held in November 2012.