This Newly Constructed and Extended Map of India

A map for officers

Published by Parbury, Allen & Co. and dedicated to Major-General Sir John Malcolm, the map announces that it was made principally for the use of officers of the army in India. At more than one and a half metres square, it brings together a growing body of Company route surveys and regional mapping at approximately 1:2,217,600.

Construction from ‘the best authorities’

The title’s language is precise: the map is newly constructed from surveys rather than itself being one continuous survey. Walker reconciled sources of different dates and quality into a general surface. The inset of the Burmese Empire, ‘compiled chiefly from native information’, briefly exposes one source of knowledge usually hidden by the finished map.

From survey office to garrison

Roads, passes, settlements and political divisions are arranged for practical consultation. The map joins scientific compilation to institutional use: information gathered through many surveys is delivered in a form suitable for planning movement, deployment and administration.

The gaze

The relationship between map and rule is stated rather than inferred. India is constructed as operational territory for the army of the power expanding across it. Indigenous information is acknowledged at the margin, while the general map presents a single British institutional view.