G.W. Hayward’s Reise: Leh nach Kaschgar

Map showing the route of British explorer George Whitaker Hayward from Leh in northern India, through Kashmir and across the Karakoram & Himalayas to Kashgar in western China.



Hayward was a notable English explorer who in 1868 was approached by the Royal Geographical Society's vice president, Sir Henry Rawlinson, with an offer to fund an expedition to Central Asia. The specific goal of the expedition would be to map the Pamir Mountains and its approaches which at the time had not yet been mapped and were an important barrier between British India and the Russian Empire.



Due to heightened tensions between Russia, China, and Great Britain during the period known as the 'Great Game', Hayward was refused entry by local officials on his initial northwest approach to the Pamir. Instead he journeyed east to Leh (in Lakdah) and then across the Karakoram Mountains to Kashgar. From here he hoped to approach the Pamir from the northeast, but was ultimately only able to survey the Karakoram Range and the upper reaches of the Yarkand River before being arrested and held under house arrest.



He was eventually released and returned to India before launching another expedition across the Himalayas in November 1869 which ended in failure due to heavy snows and an outbreak of war between the Kashmiris and the Dards. A third and final expedition was launched towards the Pamirs in June 1870 during which Hayward was murdered, possibly on the orders of the Maharaja of Kashmir. Hayward had written during his 1869 expedition about atrocities committed by the Kashmiris which had gravely offended the Maharaja of Kashmir, nominally a British ally, and irritated the British government. It is believed that Hayward may have been killed on the orders of the Maharaja in revenge for his writing.



As the only explorer to have been funded by the Royal Geographical Society during the 'Great Game', the scientific neutrality of Hayward's expeditions has come under question.



The Geographische Mitteilungen, in which this map was originally published, is the oldest German language geographical journal - its first issue was in 1855 and it finally closed its doors in 2004. The magazine was conceived and edited by August Heinrich Petermann and published by the venerable firm of Justus Perthes in Gotha, Germany.



Its first article reported on an expedition into North Africa and the Sahara by Heinrich Barth and Adolf Overweg. This report was enough to secure a circulation of 4000 for the fledgling magazine and, more importantly, encouraged other important scientist-explorers of the day who were attracted by the magazine's heavy scientific emphasis to send in their own reports. These included Hans Meyer, the first man to ascend the Kibo crater on Mount Kilimanjaro, Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer of Central Asia and the Himalayas, and Alfred Wegener, the geoscientist who pioneered the theory of continental shift which led to the modern theory of plate tectonics.



In comparison to its contemporaries, such as the Geographical Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, the Mitteilungen had a far greater interest in ethnography and the physical and natural sciences, leading to the inclusion of many fascinating, but sometimes obscure, maps on the most recent theories related to climatology, meteorology, botany, and zoology.



Printed colour. [IC1734]