A Very English Cartographer
John Arrowsmith (1790-1873) was one of the most influential British cartographers of the nineteenth century. Hailing from a family of cartographers and geographers, he inherited his family’s mapmaking business and created one of the most popular and accurate atlases in the mid-nineteenth century. He was also a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society, where he also received a gold medal from in 1863. Needless to say, he was well respected and has an incredible legacy in the world of mapmaking.
His life, then, adds a layer of intricacy with which to read this map. Judging from the repertoire of maps that he designed, most of them were, indeed, European in one way—either of the continent or specific countries. In fact, of the nearly 40 maps he produced, only about 5 are non-European, which serves as an obvious telltale sign that he might have viewed the world in a Euro-centric way, especially after having producing maps of countless European countries before delving into this work on India. This bias is very crucial to acknowledge and bear in mind as we begin to explore this map in further detail.
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