The Geological Survey of India (GSI) was founded when Thomas Oldham, who had arrived in Kolkata on March 4, 1851, took over as superintendent the next day, the GSI website informs.
It was the culmination of years of surveying efforts by the British East India Company. In 1821, the first geological map in India, of the Hyderabad region, was drawn up by H.W. Voysey, the website adds. In 1840, the Museum of Geology was established in Kolkata in three rooms of Asiatic Society of Bengal. In 1846, D.H. Williams of British Geological Survey was appointed geologic advisor to the East India Company to carry out geological survey of three coal bearing districts. He developed a number of deposits in Raniganj, Jharia and Karanpura coal fields, the website says. Finding coal deposits was one major reason surveys were instituted by the company.
Under Oldham the GSI, which remained focused on finding coal, received a fresh impetus, broadened its scope and began to map rock types, structures and age.