Englische Aufnahme des Ta-Kiang od Jang-Tse-Kiang & Englische Aufnahme des Si-Kiang od West-Flusses

Three maps on one sheet with the main focus being the latest English surveys of the Pearl River originating in Canton and the Yangtze River. 

Both of the surveys were conducted by the British Admiralty. The first, of the Yangtze River, was performed by John Ward while sailing with Lord Elgin on H. M. S. Actaeon in 1858 while the second was a further survey of the Pearl River originating in Canton by Lieut. C. J. Bullock, Master G. Robinson and A. S. Webster, his assistant. As a trio, they were responsible for important surveys of the Pearl River Delta and the general course of the river beyond Canton. 

This map is a reduction of the charts they produced for the Admiralty. 

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.


Original colour. [SEAS5512]