1880 Map of Western Palestine from Surveys Conducted for the Palestine Exploration Fund
DESCRIPTION
Few maps have shaped modern understanding of the Holy Land as profoundly as the Survey of Western Palestine, the first scientifically measured map of the region. Produced in the late-19th century for the Palestine Exploration Fund, this monumental cartographic achievement transformed the geography of Palestine from a landscape of conjecture into one documented with modern surveying methods and extraordinary precision.
Cartographic Detail and Geographic Scope
Drawn at the remarkably detailed scale of one inch to the mile, the maps can be laid out to create one extremely large map. Hundreds of towns and villages are identified alongside ruins, wells, ancient roads, cultivated lands, rivers, and mountain ranges making the work an unparalleled record of the region’s geography in the late Ottoman period. Terrain is rendered through finely engraved shaded relief, vividly capturing the rugged hill country of Judea, the coastal plains along the Mediterranean, and the valleys that structure the interior landscape. Watercourses and coastlines are delicately highlighted, while archaeological sites and historic locations appear throughout the sheets, reflecting the survey’s importance for historical and biblical scholarship.
About The Palestine Exploration Fund Survey
The project was undertaken by officers of the British Royal Engineers, most notably Claude Reignier Conder and Horatio Herbert Kitchener, who carried out extensive fieldwork across Palestine between 1871 and 1877. Working under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the surveyors established a network of triangulation points across the region, producing the first modern, systematically measured map of the Holy Land. Their work formed part of a broader effort by the organization to document the geography, archaeology, and historical landscapes associated with the Bible.
Beyond its immediate cartographic achievements, the survey quickly became the definitive reference map of Palestine for scholars, explorers, missionaries, and government officials. The remarkable accuracy and detail of the maps allowed historians and archaeologists to correlate biblical sites with their geographic settings in ways that had never before been possible. Even today, the survey remains an essential source for understanding the historical landscape of the region prior to the dramatic political and demographic changes of the twentieth century.
Historical Importance and Rarity
Complete sets of the Palestine Exploration Fund Map of Western Palestine, consisting of the full series of large engraved sheets together with the title and index maps, are increasingly difficult to obtain. Many examples have long since been dispersed or separated into individual sheets, making intact sets particularly desirable. This complete portfolio of maps stands as one of the foundational cartographic documents for the study of the Holy Land with painstaking detail provided in every sheet.
CONDITION
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