The Several Routes to and from Persia

Overview map of Europe showing several potential routes from London to Persia, based on the travels of the merchant adventurer Jonas Hanway. An elaborate title cartouche shows European, Russian, and Persian merchants mingling and trading.



A version of this map was presented to the House of Lords by the Russia Company in 1740 to promote trade with Russia and Persia. It was subsequently reissued in 1753 to illustrate Jonas Hanway's Historical Account of British Trade over the Caspian Sea, with a Journal of Travels, etc., a narrative of Hanway's 7-year trading excursion from St Petersburg to Persia and back.



Despite being a skilled merchant, a worldly traveller, and the author of 74 printed works, Hanway is now best known for being the first man in Britain to regularly carry an umbrella.