Hindoostan

Circa 1824–1827

Copper engraving on paper

Print size: 11.5 x 8.75 in (29 x 22 cm)
Sheet size: 13.75 x 11 in (35 x 28 cm)

Hindoostan—A Finely Coloured American Atlas Map of British India, Published in Philadelphia

This finely engraved and attractively hand-coloured map of Hindoostan represents an early nineteenth-century American cartographic synthesis of the Indian subcontinent, issued by the Philadelphia publisher Anthony Finley for the expanding United States atlas market. Drawing upon British imperial geographic knowledge, the map delineates presidencies, princely territories, and regional divisions through carefully applied colour, while clearly engraving major cities, river systems, and mountain ranges.

The Himalayan chain is rendered with shaded relief, anchoring the northern boundary of the subcontinent, while the Indus and Ganges river systems structure the interior geography. The Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian Ocean are prominently labelled, underscoring the maritime and commercial framework through which India was widely understood in Western cartography of the period. Ceylon appears as a separately coloured island, consistent with early nineteenth-century administrative convention.

Anthony Finley’s atlases occupy a significant position in American cartographic history, translating European and British geographic models into accessible, visually legible forms for a domestic readership. American-published maps of India remain distinctly scarcer than their British counterparts, lending this example particular interest as evidence of the global circulation of imperial geographic knowledge beyond Europe.

The present example survives with strong original colour and clear impressions, offering a well-preserved and historically grounded specimen of early American atlas cartography relating to South Asia.

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