1827 Map of the Maldive Archipelago

This is the rare 1827 Vandermaelen map of the Indian Ocean archipelagoes of the Maldives and the Laccadive Islands. It is the first map to specifically focus on these islands. The map of the Maldives - presented as an inset extension of the main map - illustrates the chain of lagoons in sharper detail than any other to date. In particular, the map presents two ships' tracks through the Huvadhu Channel. Since this was and is the broadest channel between any other atoll of Maldives. Its identification by the ships Contractor in 1792 and the Fatty Rair in 1795 would make the channel an important feature to highlight. As a matter of contrast, other channels are identified either as 'dangereux' ('dangerous') or 'inconnu' ('unknown'). The secrets of navigating the Maldives had long been the island kingdom's first line of defense - and the discovery of this channel by European powers was the first break in these defenses in more than 300 years. This was among the largest-scale maps of this region produced to date. Vandermaelen's Atlas, by applying a uniform scale to every map, afforded sharper detail to many remote areas of the world previously not so well depicted. This is also the first map of the region executed in lithograph.

Publication History and Census

This map appeared in the second part, 'Deuxième partie, Asie' of Vandermaelen's Atlas universel de géographie physique, politique, statistique et minéralogique. The atlas was produced in one edition in 1827. Only 810 complete sets were sold. The full set of six volumes appears in eleven institutional collections in OCLC. The 2nd volume alone is listed in 11. We do not see any examples of the separate map in institutional collections.