Partie du Pays de Nedjd

This is the first European map to show and name Riyadh, just four years after it became the new capital of the Second Saudi Kingdom

Vandermaelen was the son of a business magnate and invested part of his inheritance in a truly titanic geographical undertaking; he published the first bound map of the world on the same scale. It ran to six volumes. Teams were commissioned to scour all existing sources for the latest geographical information and one of the most recent pieces of geo-political news were new details about the geography of the interior of the Arabian Peninsula. This information was incorporated into Vandermaelen’s map and showed the position of the newly chosen capital of the Second Saudi Kingdom of El-Ryad, the first time that it was included on a European map. As a matter of symmetry the map also marks the neighbouring town of El-Derreyeh (Diriya), the former capital of the First Saudi Kingdom, which had been destroyed in 1818.

Since Ryadh was only chosen as the capital in 1823 and the map was lithographed in 1825 and published 1827, this gives an indication of just how up date these maps were.

Original colour. [MEAST4925]