Monumental wall map of the Asiatic Ottoman Provinces published by the Ottoman General Staff Department in Turkish Arabic.

The geographical basis of this map was first issued by the German map maker, Heinrich Kiepert. Kiepert was a meticulous cartographer with long and deep ties to the Ottoman court who had been surveying in the Empire since the mid 19th century, reflecting his life-long interest of both Biblical and Ottoman geography. Over decades, he gained the respect and friendship of many Ottoman geographers and officials and he had major access to official local maps as well as Ottoman commercial surveys. 

This vast cartographic overview of the Asiatic provinces of the Empire stretches from the very eastern edge of the Balkans including Istanbul and the Bosphorus, through Asia Minor, the Levant including Syria, Palestine, modern Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. The northern section of Egypt including the Nile Delta in Africa is also present, while further east, the map stretches into modern Iraq and Armenia as well as the southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, including Azerbaijan. While the northern Arabian Peninsula is shown, there is no detail.

Kiepert first issued a German language edition of this map in 1884 and it immediately superseded all maps of the region in  terms of accuracy and detail. This edition was translated and updated by the Ottoman map maker, Ali Seref Pasha, an army officer trained in cartography in Paris. By the Julian calendar, it was issued in 1893 and contains new and even greater detail than the map issued by Kiepert. The additional information consists changes in administrative borders, updates in railway connections and construction together with further updates in relative settlement sizes. Its level of detail and the density of information suggests that it was never issued for commercial use but rather for administrative purposes and published in very small numbers.

The blank area of the northern Arabian Peninsula is filled with a magnificent cartouche, which bears with the details of the administrative authorities responsible for compiling the map. Its surrounding illustrations show surveying and technical instruments.

This map is extremely rare. We have only been able to trace three institutional examples with Ottoman script.

Separately issued folding wall map on linen. Lithograph. Original colour. [MEAST4825]