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Aden, Bombay, Madras & Calcutta – Vintage Map 1910
Vintage 1910 map of Aden, Bombay, Madras, & Calcutta. There are three principal Indian cities shown on the map and oddly one a foreign city. In the 19th century, the British were at their peak of power and expansion. And since Aden lay strategically on the shipping route from Europe to India and the far east. They annexed Aden and made it an important coaling base and transit port for steamer ships.
It became a part of British Indian rule till 1937, thereafter a British colony until 1963. Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, travel from England to India was both by land and sea routes. Passengers from England sailed through Gibraltar onto the Mediterranean sea alighting at Alexandria (Egypt). Then proceeded by steamer ship to Cairo from there the passengers were taken by horse carriage to Suez.
From Suez, they embarked on another steamer down the Red Sea to Aden. Thence to their destinations either Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai), or Calcutta (Kolkata). Quite an arduous journey but still shorter than sailing around the southern tip of Africa. By 1869 the Suez Canal opened up and it came as a big relief for travelers. Travel became faster and cheaper. The cities of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta are quite well-known that were founded and developed by the East India Company until 1858. Consequently, the whole of the country came under the direct rule of the English Crown until 1947.
Read also Pivot Of The East. See post British India Hindostan – Antique Map 1863.
Did you know- that Kolkata was the second most important city after London in the colonial era., the oldest municipal corporation in India is in Chennai that is still active., Mumbai was once an archipelago of 7 islands.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph 1894., Canoe Aids Army In India – Old Photo 1944., Reception To The Prince of Wales Mumbai – Old Print 1905., Coonoor In Nilgiris – Old Postcard 1910
