Since the creation of the Indian Union, (1947), many local Indian territories have witnessed the structuring ofmodern economic fields based on networks of agents able to define the orientation of the development of theirown territory. From 1970 onwards, in the ancient Princely Capital Cities of Rajasthan, tourism has gradually become the basis of economic development. Rajput businessmen of Royal descent were at the origin of thistourist-centered project of development. It consists in the reappropriation, for economic purposes, of the socialmemories and of the cultural heritage of the royal dynasty.This research work purposes an analysis of the emergence of tourism in the city of Udaipur, where the project,initiated by entrepreneurs of Râjput origins, descendents of the royal principes of India, aims at theconstruction of a social memory of the royalty and of its heritage in the way to generate economic benefits. In this, tourism processes are linked to the territory, extracting in the material and immaterial elements, in theheritages and in the memories of the foundation of this ancient royal capital of Mewar Kingdom.Located in the historic city, near the places related to the royal heritage, this project relies on a permanent political domination, and on the mastery of the territory.The specificities of such an economic activity based on material and immaterial elements of the territory, are itsconstant references to the local cultures, and its ability to produce new forms of cultural expresions. The resulting cultural and economic system partakes of a global image. It also implies a territorial dynamic based onpolitical domination. This movement has an influence on the actual places, but conveys in the same time at abroader level a specific set of representation. The structuration of this emerging form of production combines cultural and economic innovation. It consequently defines a cultural district specializing in tourism.The study analyses the modes of emergence of this particular district, and of its defining interactions. Itdeals with the development of territorial memory, and with its production and its reappropriation.Coming within the larger frame of a reflexion on the importance of culture in the development of economic territories,this analysis also deals with the oppositions of the different groups of agents involved in the process.This geographic work, refering to some concepts used in social sciences, highlights the importance taken by the production of territorial specificities in local economic development by analyzing the social and territorialdimensions of this production process.
