Important early map of the Sinai Peninsula by one of the great Arabian explorers, J. R. Wellsted.

John Raymond Wellsted was one of the great early Arabian explorers in the service of the British East India Company. From 1830 onwards, he performed numerous surveys of the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, participating in one of the earliest scientific surveys of the coastline.

In 1835, he was granted permission to travel in the interior of Oman, the first modern European to do so. A preliminary account of this momentous journey was published as an article in the Royal Geographical Society. In 1838, he wrote his work "Travels in Arabia" which summerised his achievements.

This small map corresponds to his earliest survey in 1830, when, as a second lieutenant on the British East India brig Palinurus under the command of Captain Robert Moresby, he took part in one of the earliest scientific surveys of the northern part of the Red Sea, the coastline of the Sinai Peninsula and the Gulf of Aqabah.

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