1876 Napier & Saunders Large Antique Map of Khorasan - Caspian Iran Afghanistan

Cartographer :GT Napier

  • Title : A Map of the Northern Frontier of Khorassan with parts of Irak & Mazandaran to Illustrate Reports by Captain the Hon. G. Napier on special duty in Persia......
  • Size: 40 1/2in x 27in (1.030m x 690mm)
  • Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
  • Date : 1876
  • Ref #:  80680

Description:
This very large original antique map of the region of Greater Khorasan east of the Caspian Sea, part of northeastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and much of Central Asia (modern day Turkmenistan) by Trelawney Saunders after Captain George Napier - part of the British Army in India - was engraved in 1876 - dated - and was published for a report to the Secretary to the British India Office. (Ref: M&B; Tooley)

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 40 1/2in x 27in (1.030m x 690mm)
Plate size: - 40 1/2in x 27in (1.030m x 690mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Folds as issued
Verso: - None

Background:
Khorasan, sometimes called Greater Khorasan, is a historical region which formed the northeast province of Greater Iran. The name signifies the Land of the Sun or the Eastern Province.
Khorasan comprised the present territories of north-eastern Iran, parts of Afghanistan and much of Central Asia. The province was often subdivided into four quarters. Nishapur (present-day Iran), Marv (present-day Turkmenistan), Herat and Balkh (present-day Afghanistan) were the centers, respectively, of the westernmost, northernmost, southernmost, and easternmost quarters.[3]:645 In the north, Khorasan stretched as far as the Oxus, and according to some descriptions, included Transoxiana (Bukhara and Samarqand in present-day Uzbekistan). Along the north it extended westward to the Caspian coast. Early Islamic usage often regarded everywhere east of so-called Jibal or what was subsequently termed Iraq Ajami (Persian Iraq), as being included in a vast and loosely-defined region of Khorasan, which might even extend to the Indus Valley and Sindh. The boundary between these two was the region surrounding the cities of Gurgan and Qumis. In particular, the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs and Timurids divided their empires into Iraqi and Khorasani regions. Khorasan is believed to have been bounded in the southwest by desert and the town of Tabas, known as the Gate of Khorasan,[6]:562 from which it extended eastward to the mountains of central Afghanistan.[4] Sources from the 10th-century onwards refer to areas in the south of the Hindu Kush as the Khorasan Marches, forming a frontier region between Khorasan and Hindustan.
Greater Khorasan is today sometimes used to distinguish the larger historical region from the modern Khorasan Province of Iran (1906–2004), which roughly encompassed the western half of the historical Greater Khorasan.

Napier, Sir George Thomas 1784 – 1855
George Thomas Napier KCB was a British Army officer who saw service in the Peninsular War and later commanded the army of the Cape Colony.
He entered the British army in 1800, and served with distinction under Sir John Moore and the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula—losing his right arm at the 1812 storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, where, as a major in the 52nd Foot, he led the Light Division\\\'s storming party.
He became major-general in 1837, KCB in 1838 and lieutenant-general in 1846. He was governor and Commander-In-Chief of the army in the Cape Colony from 1839 to 1843, during which time the abolition of slavery and the expulsion of the Boers from Natal were the chief events. He was offered, but declined, the chief command in India after the Battle of Chillianwalla, and also that of the Sardinian army in 1849. He became full general in 1854. He died at Geneva, Switzerland on 16 September 1855, aged 71.
His autobiography, Passages in the Early Military Life of General Sir G.T. Napier, was published by his surviving son, General William Craig Emilius Napier (the author of an important work on outpost duty) in 1885.
The town of Napier, Western Cape, and also Napier House at Fairbairn College, Goodwood, Cape Town, are named after Sir George Thomas Napier.

 

$275.00