Southeast Asia English Map - Year 1720

Detailed large format map of India and Southeast Asia, including China and the Philippines, one of the most decorative and sought after maps of the region originally published in the 18th Century and the first large scale map of the region published in England.

The present map depicts the East Indies from the Persian border to New Guinea and the southern part of Japan, including India, Ceylon, Southeast Asia, most of China, present Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. It is augmented by insets featuring a plan of Bantam (a major port in Dutch-controlled Java); a view of Goa (the principal Portuguese base in India); a view of Surat (an English trading post in India); a plan of Madras, India (a major English base); as well as a plan of Batavia (the capital of the Dutch East Indies, today known as Jakarta). Richly annotated, the map illustrates the extent of European influence and trade, at the height of colonial influence throughout this critical region.

Importantly, the map was the most popular and authoritative general cartographic representation of South and East Asia published during this period when the activities of the East India Company (EEC) had risen to the forefront of the economic life of the British Empire. The EEC, whose arms appear in the far right of the map, was a private syndicate that was granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, that henceforth allowed it a monopoly on all English trade with the East Indies.