An Accurate Map of Hindoostan, Drawn from the latest Authorities

Januray 1, 1800

Copper-engraved plate with hand-applied colour to political boundaries

Print size: 11.75 x 9.75 in (30 x 24.5 cm)
Sheet size: 13.25 x 10.75 in (33.5 x 27.5 cm)

An Accurate Map of Hindostan — British India Delineated after Wilkinson, London, 1800

Published in London on 1 January 1800 by Robert Wilkinson, An Accurate Map of Hindoostan, Drawn from the latest Authorities presents a finely engraved political synthesis of British India at a moment of strategic transition. Prepared for Wilkinson’s General Atlas of the World, the map draws upon intelligence first assembled in the mid-1790s and reissued into the early nineteenth century. Based on the cartographic work of Major James Wilkinson, the map synthesises the latest geographic intelligence available to British publishers at a moment when East India Company's control over the subcontinent was rapidly expanding.

A printed key at right carefully explains the colour scheme, distinguishing British possessions and allies, the Mahratta states, native territories, and the dominions of “Tippoo”, “The Sikhs”, and the realm of “Timour Shah”, with smaller and tributary states identified separately. This explicit political legend—unusual for its clarity—underscores the map’s administrative purpose. A delicate eight-point compass rose appears in the Arabian Sea, while longitudes are measured east from London, reinforcing the map’s metropolitan frame of reference.

The geography reflects British and East India Company perceptions shortly after the Treaty of Seringapatam (1792). The continued recognition of Tipu Sultan’s Mysore, the Sikh country in the Punjab, and the Durrani dominions under “Timour Shah” captures a balance of power that would soon shift following Mysore’s fall in 1799 and subsequent realignments in the northwest. As such, the map fixes a transitional political landscape, preserving a moment when British presidencies, allied states, and rival powers coexisted in uneasy equilibrium across the subcontinent.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at NO RESERVE

This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each lot.