Rare, separately-issued, folding map of Punjab, the western Himalayas, and Kashmir compiled by James Walker, geographer to the East India Company, to whom the map is dedicated. The map is based on the GreatTrigonometrical Survey of India, a nearly 70 year project to survey all of India begun by the East India Company in 1802 and only completed in 1871. The Great Trigonometrical Survey produced extraordinary results and led to India being one of the most surveyed countries on Earth by the start of the 19th century. Unusually, Walker has listed his other sources in the upper-left corner of the map, making this a valuable record of the early cartography of this region.



Red, blue, and yellow lines on the map show the extensive travels of Alexander Cunningham, Henry Strachey, and Thomas Thomson, the three men assigned by the British government to establish the official boundary between Ladakh and Tibet in 1847. Surveys conducted by all three of these men are mentioned in Walker's list of sources.



This region was particularly of interest to the British government as much of it was forceably ceded by the Sikh Empire as part of the Treaty of Amritsar (1846) which concluded the Sikh War. With the stroke of a pen, Britain suddenly controlled vast areas of land in northern India which had barely been surveyed. The need to establish an official border between this new territory and Chinese Tibet was also essential, though the Chinese government was initially reluctant to send their own boundary commissioners, leaving the decision in the hands of the British alone.



This map was published in London by the firm of W.H. Allen & Co. who largely focused on maps, guides, and charts related to India and the Far East. It is unlikely that this map was ever published in large numbers as it was quite a niche subject, even given the heightened interest at the time. OCLC notes three institutional copies with two further copies noted in the collection of the British Library. This is the first example we have seen for sale on the open market.



Original hand-colour. SL [IC2745]