Old Map of Bengal and Bihar, c.1776
Price range: £35.55 through £59.95
James Rennell’s survey of Bengal and Bihar, 1776
James Rennell’s map follows the provinces of Bengal and Bahar (Bihar) through a dense network of rivers, towns and administrative boundaries. Made from survey work in the later eighteenth century, it records a landscape increasingly mapped for travel, taxation and government by the East India Company. Its fine engraved detail and historic spellings make this an absorbing map print for anyone interested in India’s past.
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Historical Background
James Rennell’s survey sets Bengal and Bahar within a connected landscape of rivers, towns and provincial boundaries. The mapped waterways are central to the composition: they join settlements across the plain and give the map a practical structure for reading movement through the region.
Map Details
- Original title: An Actual Survey of the Provinces of Bengal, Bahar &c.
- Cartographer: James Rennell
- Publication: 1776; exact issue details for this reproduction are not confirmed
- Area shown: Bengal and Bahar (Bihar), with surrounding districts and river systems
Rennell’s work belongs to a period when the East India Company was extending its administrative control in Bengal and Bihar. Surveyed geography was useful for revenue collection and the movement of people and goods, so the map’s detailed network of waterways and named places had practical consequences as well as cartographic interest. Its boundaries and spellings preserve the vocabulary of that eighteenth-century administration.
Follow the rivers across the provinces and compare them with the lines dividing the districts. The map makes clear how much of the region’s geography depended on water routes, while the names and boundaries show how a surveyed landscape was translated into a system of governance. The sheet is therefore both a detailed record of eastern India and a reminder that mapmaking in this period was closely tied to colonial power.