In:
Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress), Vol. 28, No. 4 ( 1991-12), p. 59-91
Abstract:
The Atlas of India was the principal topographic map series of British India. Copperengraved at four miles to an inch, new sheets were produced for almost eight decades, from 1827 to 1906. This paper follows its history, with an emphasis upon the earlier decades. It starts with the shift in the East India Company's policy between 1800 and 1823 from restricting access to openly distributing geographic information. It continues with a discussion of the ties between the Company and commercial cartographers, notably Aaron Arrowsmith and John Walker. Of significance in this respect is the conflict over the responsibility for map compilation and production between the commercial cartographers in London and the surveyors in India. Finally, with the transfer of production to India in 1870, this paper discusses the compromises made by the Survey of India as the Atlas competed for limited resources with other (lithographed) topographic map series at larger scales, until the Atlas' formal demise in 1905. However, Atlas sheets continued as the basis for many new maps until the Second World War and Independence in 1947.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0317-7173
,
1911-9925
DOI:
10.3138/X623-75J1-3RXW-8077
Language:
English
Publisher:
University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
Publication Date:
1991
SSG:
7,26
SSG:
14,1
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