Entree du Gange: Et son Cours en remontant jusqu ‘a‘ UGLI

1752

Copper engraving on paper

12.75 x 9.75 in (32.5 x 24.5 cm)

The Mouth of the Ganges and the Hooghly River—A French Hydrographic Inset from the Bengal Survey

This finely engraved French hydrographic chart depicts the mouth of the Ganges and its course upstream to Hugli (Hooghly), offering a precise and utilitarian representation of the Bengal delta during the mid-eighteenth century. Titled Entrée du Gange et son cours en remontant jusqu’à Ugli, the map privileges navigational clarity over ornament, reflecting Enlightenment priorities of empirical measurement and maritime intelligence.

The chart records the intricate estuarine geography of the Bay of Bengal with notable attention to channels, sandbanks, and depth soundings, essential for riverine and coastal navigation. Key settlements, including Balasore and Hugli, are placed in measured relation to the river system, underscoring Bengal’s importance as a commercial and administrative gateway in European engagement with eastern India. Subtle hand-coloured outlines differentiate land and water without compromising the analytical precision of the engraving.

Importantly, this chart was originally issued as an inset to a large-scale survey map of Bengal and the eastern provinces by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, titled Carte de l'Inde Dressee pour la Compagnie des Indes par le Sr. d'Anville Secretaire de S.A.S.Mgr. le Duc d'Orleans Novembre 1752, Paris, 1752, forming part of a broader cartographic programme documenting the region’s hydrography, where this Ganges chart appears integrated within the larger Bengal survey map.

French hydrographic charts of the Ganges delta from this period are comparatively uncommon, and the present example represents a refined document of eighteenth-century geographic science and colonial knowledge production.

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