1875 Meiji Japanese Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia

A scarce Meiji 8, 1875 Japanese issue plan or map of Southeast Asia and the East Indies. Centered on the Mekong River, this map covers from Taiwan to Java and from Pegu (Burma) to the Philippines, including all of modern day Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines, as well as parts of Burma and China. Inland detail seems primarily restricted to political borders and riverways, but a view major cities, such as Bangkok, Guangzhou, Pegu (Rangoon), and Mandalay, are noted. Vivid color coding identifies various polities: China, British Burma, Independent Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malay, Malacca, British Borneo, and the Philippines are apparent.

This map was prepared to illustrate an extremely rare Meiji Era Japanese travelogue describing a voyage to Thailand or Siam. We have identified only two other examples of this map located in the archives of the Waseda University Library, Tokyo; the Kyoto University Library, Kyoto.