>From Rashid's Blog on various aspects of Earth Sciences ====================== Rare maps of south Asia and Sindh 140 AD to 1808 AD The British started with scientific maps by actual surveys. John Thoronton was appointed East India Co.'s first Hydrographer in 1685 AD. He produced coastal maps and that of Ganges in 1703 AD, but accurate mapping was still half a century far off. The wars between the English and the French in the mid eighteenth century brought about new interest in geography of the inland and therefore maps of interior were drawn showing the routes, river crossings, forts, sources of food, grass and water supplies etc. This was not done for Sindh which was closed to all foreigners, though the East India Company's factory existed in Sindh between 1758 and 1773 AD. The British also did not need this information and when they needed it badly at least 39 different surveys were carried out between 1808 and 1843 to construct an accurate map of Sindh. Due to ill health James Rennell the official survey or General of Bengal since 1765 the East India Company at Calcutta (Kolkata) left for England in 1773 AD and from rough skatches sent from India, he drew maps in London. He published an Atlas of Bengal and subsequently a map of the Eastern part of Hindustan containing Bengal, Behar, Awd (Oudh) and Ellahabad (Allahabad). Between 1776 and 1779 he published a number of maps of India but his information on Sindh is drawn from earlier maps and therefore is inaccurate. He seems to have made of use of D'Anville too. In 1782 Rennell published a large map of Hindustan, based on rough sketches drawn by engineers at site and also on earlier maps. With it he released a memoir. Three years later a revised edition of the same map was published. Another revised edition came out in 1792 AD, with over 600 page memoir. This memoir was considered a classical work for next fifty years. Scientific work on mapping started after Clive's acquisition of Bengal and with appointment of James Rennell. The purpose of surveys was to know: (a) Extent of East India Company's possessions. (b) To work out extent of cultivated lands for revenue collection. (c) To know of the communication routes. (d) Use of maps in case of military campaigns. After 1760, perambulator was used for measuring distances. This instrument consisted of a wheel with a handle and some sort of revolution counter attached to it for marking up the distances in miles. Up to 1761 AD, the measurement of longitude was a guess work but introduction of accurate chronometer in this year changed the position. [ snip] Full text with some old maps at - http://tinyurl.com/2mto4e http://rashidfaridi.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/the-art-of-map-making-and-some-rare-maps-of-the-south-asia-and-sindh-140-ad-to-1808-ad/ ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India