Carte Du Bengale (Map of Bengal)

This map, Carte Du Bengale, is attributed to Arkstée & Merkus, but it is based on a map by French geographer Loui Brion de la Tour, who also made the Atlas Géneral, Civil et Ecclésiastique’, 1766, and ‘Atlas Général’, 1790-98.

The eighteenth century was a time of conflict between the English and French in both Europe and Asia, but both countries produced some of the most sophisticated map-makers of the time.

It was also an important time for Indian cartography. There is a shifting of focus from the aesthetic to the scientific nature of cartography although, certain decorative elements are retained like the physical illustrations of topography and the colouring of regions in a map, as yet following no particular convention.