While many zamindars were facing a crisis at the end of the eighteenth century, a group of rich peasants was consolidating their position in the villages. In Francis Buchanan’s survey of the Dinajpur district in North Bengal, we have a vivid description of this class of rich peasants known as jotedars.

What is Francis Buchanan also known as?

Buchanan-Hamilton.

Upon his mother’s death, he inherited her property and assumed her family name, Hamilton. So he is often called Buchanan-Hamilton.