Geologische Karte von Vorder-Indien

1879

Chromolithograph on paper

Print size: 19.75 x 17.25 in (50 x 44 cm)
Sheet size: 21 x 18.5 in (53.5 x 47 cm)
Folded: 10.5 x 8 in (26.5 x 20.5 cm)

A finely executed 1879 geological map of the Indian subcontinent from the Perthes–Petermann school - among the earliest colour-coded geological representations of British India

This map represents the height of German scientific cartography in the late nineteenth century. Published by the Justus Perthes firm of Gotha, under the intellectual legacy of the distinguished geographer August Petermann, the sheet synthesises decades of British geological surveys in India, translating them into a rigorous and visually coherent continental production.

The period after 1850 witnessed an explosion of geological study in India, driven by the needs of railway construction, mining, irrigation engineering and military logistics. This map thus incorporates the pioneering work of the Geological Survey of India (founded 1851) and reflects the earliest attempts to classify the subcontinent’s strata systematically - from the ancient Precambrian formations of the peninsula to the Himalayan sedimentary arcs. The chromolithography is characteristic of Perthes’ precision printing: nuanced tonal transitions capture the structural divisions of the Deccan, the Indo-Gangetic basin, Sindh, Rajputana, and the rising Himalayan foothills.

Petermann’s imprint signifies more than authorship: it denotes the authoritative scientific ambition that shaped German geography of the era, bringing together empirical data from British India and European cartographic disciplines. This map remains one of the most refined nineteenth-century geological maps of the region.

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