Important map of the Arabian Peninsula showing the caravan routes.

Cary’s map of the Peninsula is one of the great, early 19th century maps which focuses directly on Arabia. Although it is still divided into its classical, geographical divisions, namely Arabia Petraea (on the extreme northwest of the region), Arabia Foelix (around Yemen) and Arabia Deserta (the rest of the country), recent exploration has revealed a great deal about this formerly mysterious land.

The overall shape of the Peninsula can be traced back to D’Anville although it has been corrected and augmented since the first publication of that map in the mid-18th century. On Cary’s map, the western coast bears an astonishing amount of detail. This can be attributed to several important European explorers, the most prominent being Carsten Niebuhr, the only European survivor of an expedition sponsored by Christian IV of Denmark. Niebuhr’s exhaustive account, description and travelogue, first published in the early 1770s over two volumes, later followed by a third, acted as an authority for the region for over half a century and beyond. The Red Sea also shows the route of the French frigate Venus, which engaged in a maritime survey of the former, later followed by one of the Gulf. Unfortunately, the ship was lost with all hands and cargo in a hurricane in 1788 in the Indian Ocean.

The eastern coast bears far less detail although some information is emerging. The settlement of Grane is now also called Koueit. Niebuhr’s work has a long description of the importance of the settlement as a caravan staging town. The important “Pearl Banks” near Bahrain are marked while Catura is also present as a settlement, although there is no indication of the Peninsula.

Finally, the map illustrates the caravan routes across the Peninsula between Basra and Mecca and El-Katif and Mecca. The former is marked as the route of the “Persian Caravans” while the latter is marked as the route of the “Indian Caravans”.

Along with the maps of the Peninsula by John Thomson, John Pinkerton, Cary’s map is one the finest English early 19th century maps of the region.

Original hand colour. [MEAST4720]