Large scale, highly detailed folding wall map of Jammu and Kashmir published for the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India.

A great deal has been written on the importance and significance of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of which this map is part. Due to its first hand knowledge, the expertise of and access enjoyed by the surveyors, its accuracy and scale was unrivalled at the time. Despite working in very difficult conditions and in an extremely unfriendly environment, the survey team managed to produce a map which acted as a foundation for future mapping of this extraordinary region. It is centred on Srinagar. Other towns and hill stations marked on the map show Arnut Nag or modern Anantnag (also called Islamabad on the map, although not to be confused with the Pakistani city of Islamabad to the west of Srinagar), Sopoor or modern Sopore and Baramula or modern Baramulla. Of interest are also the multiple mountain peaks and their heights and another notable feature is the famous Woolar or modern Wular Lake, a site of great natural beauty.

The Surveyor of India at the time was Lieut Col. A.S.Waugh, whose name is prominently displayed on the cartouche; it was during his tenure that he was given a report that Peak XV was the tallest mountain in the Himalayas and possibly the world. Initially quite cautiously, he named it Mount Everest after his predecessor in the Survey, George Everest. This was done as multiple names were used by the local population groups for the mountain. The other individual named on the cartouche, Captain T. G. Montgomerie was 1st Assistant to Waugh and was also in command of the actual staff of surveyors. Many of these were of native origin, which Montgomerie used to gain geographical information from areas in the far north which would be impossible for him to obtain as a British officer. Montgomerie was later encouraged to expand this concept and to establish the famous 'pundits' or explorer spies during the Great Game in Central Asia.

The cartouche also details the years the survey took place, 1855-6-7 and the lower margin prints the names of the officers in charge of the individual surveying teams. Original hand colour. Folded. [IC2702]