A Bengal Atlas

Major James Rennell, A Bengal Atlas: Atlas containing maps of the theatre of war and commerce on that side of Hindoostan. Compiled from the original surveys; and published by order of the Honourable the Court of Directors for the Affairs of the East India-Company. By James Rennell, Late Major of Engineers, and Surveyor General in Bengal, London: Compiled from the Original Surveys; and published by Order of the HONORABLE THE COURT OF DIRECTORS for the Affairs of the EAST INDIA COMPANY, 1781

Title page, contents list with errata printed on verso, advertisement, map of inland navigation, tables of routes and distances, key map to Bengal and Bahar, nineteen double-page engraved maps and one single-page map, engraved panorama of Oudanulla and Chunargur (on one sheet), the first ten maps with contemporary outline colouring,
19.49 x 14.17 x 0.98 in (49.5 x 36 x 2.5 cm)

LIST OF MAPS:
Title page – A Bengal Atlas
Map of Bengal, Bahar and Orissa
Map of the Provinces of Bengal and Bihar
Map of the Province of Bengal
Map of the Province of Bahar
Map of the Province of Orissa
Course of the Ganges from Hardwar to the Sea
Course of the Ganges from Allahabad to Rajmahal
Course of the Ganges from Rajmahal to the Sea
Course of the Brahmaputra River
Course of the Teesta and Adjacent Rivers
Course of the Mahananda River
Course of the Coosy (Kosi) River
Course of the Gunduck River
Course of the Saône River
Course of the Damoodah River
Course of the Ajay River
Course of the Mayoorakshi River
Course of the Runnye River
Course of the Burrampooter (variant river plate)
Supplementary / variant river plate (state-dependent)

A Bengal Atlas — Major James Rennell and the Foundations of Scientific Geography in India

First issued in 1780, A Bengal Atlas stands as one of the most consequential cartographic achievements of the eighteenth century and marks the effective beginning of scientific geography in India. Compiled by James Rennell (1742–1830), the atlas represents the first systematic survey ever undertaken of Bengal and its adjoining regions and the earliest attempt to render the subcontinent through measured observation rather than conjecture.

Rennell commenced his survey in the autumn of 1764, operating from headquarters at Dacca and working across terrain that was unmapped, politically unstable, and frequently dangerous. Over successive working seasons, and at considerable personal risk, he gradually completed a task unprecedented in scale and ambition. During thirteen years of labour, Rennell surveyed approximately 300,000 square miles, extending from the eastern limits of Lower Bengal westward to Agra, and from the Himalayan foothills southward to Bundelkhand and Chota Nagpur. His ability and resolve soon distinguished him from his contemporaries, and in 1767—at the age of just twenty-four—he was promoted by Major-General Robert Clive to Surveyor-General of Bengal.

Originally conceived as a survey of newly acquired Company territories, the project expanded significantly under Warren Hastings after his appointment as Governor-General in 1773. Hastings envisaged a comprehensive, Domesday-style reckoning of land, people, and resources for purposes of revenue and governance. Rennell’s contribution to this programme was conducted in the manner of a military survey, prioritising secure passage, river systems, and strategic movement, with geographic intelligence gathered and systematised alongside.

The atlas’s engraved maps privilege empirical clarity over ornament. River systems—above all the Ganges and its tributaries—are delineated with an accuracy never before achieved, while settlements, administrative divisions, and roads are organised into a coherent spatial framework that underpinned British fiscal, military, and administrative planning. Rennell later codified this immense body of data in his Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan. He categorised places into seven categories: Cities (2), Capital of Province (13), Large Town (51), Large Bazar and Cutcherry (255), Small Bazar and Cutcherry (577), Village (1974) and Fort (18) with analytical precision.

In 1776, while surveying on the frontier of Bhutan, Rennell was severely wounded in an attack by Sannyasis, injuries from which he never fully recovered. He retired from active service in 1777 with the rank of Major and spent the remaining fifty-three years of his life in London, devoted to geographic research among the East India Company’s archives. His later works—including the first approximately correct map of India (1783) and major studies in classical and comparative geography—cemented his reputation. Regarded today as the father of Indian geography, Rennell’s Bengal Atlas remains a cornerstone of colonial cartography and a work of enduring institutional, scholarly, and historical significance.

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