The Island of Yezo (Japan)

Sketch map of Hokkaido showing the route of Captain Thomas Blakiston, an English explorer and naturalist. In 1861, Blakiston traveled further up the Yangtze River than any previous European had ever recorded.



At the end of that expedition, Blakiston moved to Japan where he became one of the leading expert on Japanese flora and fauna. He was the first to notice that the animal species on Hokkaido were more closely related to Northern Asian species than to the species across the rest of Japan, thereby establishing a theoretical zoogeographical boundary between Hokkaido and Honshu which is still named after him.



This map was published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society to accompany a paper presented by Blakiston himself.



Published by John Murray. Engraved by Edward Weller. Printed colour. [SEAS4924]