Artist: John Lawson Thornton
Size: 43 x 53 cm
Museum: Kalakriti Archives (Hyderabad, India)
Technique: Engraving
The earliest detailed printed English map of Bengal, made for the English East India Company by its official hydrographer John Thornton. This elegant chart depicts Bengal and adjacent regions as the English conceived of them around 1680. During this period, Bengal was considered to be the wealthiest region of India, its economy buoyed by the production of magnificent textiles, such as calicos and silk, while Bihar was rich in saltpeter, the main ingredient for gunpowder.The Portuguese were the first Europeans to gain a presence in Bengal, in the 1570s. However, beginning in the 1620s, they were supplanted by both the English and the Dutch. These players were later joined by the French, Danes and the Flemish-Austrians. The map labels a number of centers that were important to European trade in the region. In the Ganges Delta these include ‘Cassimbazar’ (Kasimbazar), ‘Dacca’ (Dhaka, Bangladesh) and ‘Hulgly’ (Hooghly-Chinsura). Notably, Calcutta does not appear on the map, as it would not be founded until 1690.The location marked on the map as ‘Jagernaut 1000 Pagods’ refers to the Jagannath Temple in Puri (Odisha), dedicated to the Hindu deity Jagannath, whose name derived from word Jagat-Nath, meaning
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