Historical map of the northern regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and southern Tartary. Multiple references to historical figures relevant to the area, including Tamerlane and Alexander the Great.

James Rennell became the first Surveyor General of Bengal and thus had unfettered access to the latest manuscript charts of the northern regions of India, modern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He retired from the East India Company in 1777 and spent the rest of his life in geographical and historical research, chiefly in the archives in East India House in London.

This map reflects that research, combining extraordinary detail of many highly inaccessible regions together with historical events such as the routes of Alexander the Great and the route and conquests of Tamerlane the founder of the Timurid Empire. Indeed, all of the areas on this map would have been part of the Timurid Empire in the early 15th century.

As a footnote, Rennell also references the extraordinary journey of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, ambassador of Henry III of Castile to the court of Tamerlane in Samarkand. The maps shows the route of the embassy in 1404-5.

[IC2857]