S.E. Peninsula and Malaysia

Large, detailed map of Southeast Asia, thought to be the first cartographic document to use the name "Malaysia". Geographically, this 19th century atlas map shows from the mouth of the Ganges River in the northwest, to the coast of China and Formosa (now Taiwan) in the east. The map extends to show the Southeast Asian archipelago and across to Papua New Guinea, which shows an unfinished coastline.



The colouring on the map indicates European territorial claims; pink/red is used to highlight possessions of the British Empire, orange for Dutch, green for Spanish, purple for Portuguese and brown for Danish.



In the upper right corner, an inset map shows the island of Pulo Penang, which is accompanied by a statement about control of the island by the East India Company in 1786, and then by the Governments of Penang, Malaysia and Singapore in 1830. In the lower left, an inset map shows Singapore and environs, noting the foundation of Singapore as the first British colony by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819.


Original hand colour. [SEAS5176]