Old Map of India

Historical Background

Johnson’s Hindostan or British India places the Indian subcontinent within a much wider view of southern Asia. Published by Johnson and Ward in New York during the 1860s, the map extends eastwards across Burma and Siam towards the coast of Vietnam, and southwards to Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula. Three separate city plans and a view of Calcutta’s Government House and Treasury give the sheet a distinctive balance of regional geography and urban detail.

Map Details

• Original title: Johnson’s Hindostan or British India
• Mapmaker: Alvin Jewett Johnson
• Publisher: Johnson and Ward
• Publication place: New York
• Date: 1860s; the exact atlas issue of the reproduced sheet is unconfirmed
• Source publication: Johnson’s New Illustrated Family Atlas
• Area shown: The Indian subcontinent and adjoining parts of South and Southeast Asia
• Inset plans: The Island and Town of Bombay; Madras and its Suburbs; Calcutta
• Decorative view: Government House and Treasury, Calcutta
• Orientation: North at the top, with longitude references to Greenwich and Washington

A wider view than the title suggests

The main map gives India a central position but includes considerable territory beyond it. The Indus region lies towards the western edge, while the Himalayas form a heavily worked band across the north. Rivers, cities and regional names fill the subcontinent. Across the Bay of Bengal, the labels Birmah, Siam and Anam reveal the terminology used by the publisher for parts of present-day Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

This broad coverage is a useful part of the map’s appeal. It allows the viewer to follow the coastline from India’s eastern shore towards the long Malay Peninsula and compare the placement of neighbouring regions within one composition. Ceylon appears beneath the southern tip of India. The title’s reference to British India should therefore not be read as a claim that everything on the sheet belonged to Britain.

Bombay, Madras and Calcutta in detail

The plan of the Island and Town of Bombay occupies the left side of the sheet. Its pink colouring sets it apart from the surrounding map, and its long, narrow form shows the relationship between the town and its coastal setting. The small key beneath the plan supplies references for selected features. This is Bombay, now Mumbai, represented at a scale intended to show more than its location on a continental map.

Below it, Madras and its Suburbs presents a different urban pattern. Streets, buildings and routes spread out beside the coast, with the settlement extending beyond a compact central area. The plan gives a closer view of the city now called Chennai, allowing its arrangement to be compared with the more enclosed form of Bombay above.

Calcutta’s inset stands in the upper-right corner. The river defines one side of the plan, while a dense street pattern fills the adjoining land. Modern Kolkata is also represented in the architectural view at the opposite corner of the sheet. By including both a plan and an illustration, the map gives this city an especially prominent role.

The Calcutta view and ornamental border

The vignette labelled Government House and Treasury, Calcutta shows substantial buildings framed by trees and an open foreground. It introduces an architectural subject into a sheet otherwise dominated by geographical information. The illustration reflects the importance attached to colonial administration, although it cannot represent the full variety of the city’s life or population.

A continuous ornamental border surrounds the map. Its interlaced shapes and corner devices are conspicuous even from a distance, while the small lettering and city plans encourage closer inspection. The subdued regional colours are strengthened by darker boundary outlines, helping the eye distinguish areas within the densely labelled interior. These features give the print its recognisable nineteenth-century atlas appearance.

Reading the historical names

Hindostan is retained here as part of the original title. Other names and spellings likewise belong to the period and should be understood in their historical setting. The map predates the partition of British India in 1947 and the creation of today’s national boundaries. It also belongs to the period after the transfer of government from the East India Company to the British Crown in 1858.

The reproduced sheet is described as an 1860s map rather than assigned an unsupported precise year. Johnson and Ward versions with these city plans and the Calcutta vignette occur in surviving atlases of that decade. Its wide geographical coverage, smaller urban studies and decorative engraving make this old map of India a particularly varied fine art print.