1841 Wyld Map of China (First Opium War)

A beautiful example of the scarce 1841 edition of James Wyld's First Opium War Era map of China, with Hong Kong identified here as 'Heong Kong'. This is essentially an early 'newsmap' offering up to date information on the fast-paced war to the invested British public.

A Closer Look

The map covers all of China, extending from the Tibet border to western Japan and from Manchuria to Hainan. Korea, rendered in full, is wildly malformed. Taiwan, appearing near the cartouche, is misshaped, and only the western coast features any detail. There are notes on industry, transportation networks, the Great Wall, population, trade resources, and more.

The First Opium War

The First Opium War, or the Anglo-Chinese War (1839 - 1842), was a series of engagements fought between the United Kingdom and Qing China over trade and diplomatic relations. By the middle of the 19th century, an enormous trade imbalance had developed between Europe and China due to the high demand for Chinese goods (silk, porcelain, tea) in Europe and the low demand for European goods (English wool, anyone?) in China. To balance the trade, the British East India Company introduced Indian-grown opium to the Chinese market. The opium trade led to waves of addiction throughout China and reversed the trade imbalance within a couple of years.

Historical Context

In 1839, China's Daoguang Emperor, seeking to stem the tide of narcotic addiction, banned opium entirely and blockaded China's only open trade port, Canton (modern-day Guangzhou). They also seized and destroyed nearly 20,000 chests, roughly 1200 tons, of opium. Foreign traders within Canton were confined to their offices without access to outside food or supplies - forcing a 'capitulate or starve' situation.

The British subsequently dispatched a naval and military force to China. The Royal Navy used its cannon power to inflict a series of decisive defeats on the Qing at various Chinese ports, forcing them to the negotiating table - a tactic later referred to as 'gunboat diplomacy.' When this map was issued, the Qing were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking, the first of the Unequal Treaties. The Treaty of Nanking created five open treaty ports and ceded Hong Kong to the British Empire. The Opium Trade quickly resumed, but escalating tensions led to the Second Opium War (1856 - 1860) just 14 years later.

War and Trade

The First Opium War was essentially about trade, as is this map. Wyld offers a wealth of detail regarding trading and resources throughout China. He identifies black tea regions, green tea regions, cotton fields (near Shanghai), chinaware manufactories, silkworm lands, varnish trees, rice grounds, limestone, blue nankeen manufactories, and a place where 'silken fowls are bread.'

Wyld's News Maps

Wyld was masterful at capturing political events throughout the world as they occurred and leveraging his impressive publishing operation to quickly produce and distribute pertinent maps to the invested public. The speed with which Wyld could assess news events and produce an informative, fully engraved map contributed significantly to his commercial success. While a small subset of his large cartographic corpus, Wyld's news maps arguably represent his most significant work - forming a vital record of currently developing events from an even-handed, if Anglo-centric perspective. Such maps had an ephemeral period of interest, were separately issued, and necessarily printed in small quantities, leading to their extreme scarcity today.

Publication History and Census

James Wyld first published this map in 1840 to capitalize on British public interest in the First Opium War (1839 - 1842). Subsequent editions were issued in 1841 (present example), 1842, 1843, and 1844. Early editions are rare on the market.