Asia and its Islands, According to D’Anville; Divided into Empires, Kingdoms, States, Regions &c… In The East Indies and An Exact Delineation of all the Discoveries made in the Eastern Parts By The English under Captns. Cook, Vancouver & Peyrouse… 1799 stands as a culminating English vision of the East on the very threshold of the nineteenth century. Created by Richard Holmes Laurie and published by Laurie & Whittle, it expands upon Robert Sayer’s earlier foundation while honoring D’Anville’s scholarly geography. The result is a synthesis of classical erudition and modern hydrography, a work that replaces conjecture with hard-won coastal detail. Across an expansive projection, the viewer encounters a freshly clarified Asia and a reimagined archipelagic world, their boundaries and shorelines informed by nearly three decades of British empirical revision.

The map’s animating spirit is the Age of Discovery at full tide. It unites the latest returns from British voyages in the Pacific and Indian oceans—embodied by the achievements of Captain Cook and his successors, including Vancouver—while also acknowledging the profound, if tragic, contributions of La Pérouse. Nowhere is this more apparent than along the southern oceans: the eastern littoral of New Holland is fixed with unprecedented assurance, and the scattered Pacific archipelagos and Polynesian islands are set within an intelligible maritime context. This is a chart of movement and encounter, but also of consequence, revealing how exploratory intelligence reshaped European understanding of a waterbound hemisphere.

Commercial purpose threads through the composition with equal force. Careful delineation of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea emphasizes the arterial importance of major passages—Malacca, Sunda, and their neighboring straits—placing Asian trade at the heart of global exchange. Finely inscribed maritime routes and judicious coastal annotations signal not only navigational awareness but also the logistics of empire, from monsoon-facing anchorages to critical approaches that knit Calcutta, Batavia, Canton, and the Spice Islands into a single economic field. Insets of King George Sound and southern Tasmania, derived from discoveries by HMS Duke in 1791, distill fresh reconnaissance into navigable form, sharpening the map’s practical value.

Equally arresting is the political portrait that overlays these seas. With color-coded washes, the cartographer renders empires, kingdoms, and states across continental Asia and its island worlds, reflecting a late eighteenth-century mosaic of authority and ambition. The viewer sees regions defined by dynastic power, mercantile privileges, and coastal enclaves—an evolving balance between indigenous polities and European colonial footholds. The East Indies emerge as a web of sultanates and company outposts; farther north and west, the great continental realms are bounded with a precision that communicates both geographical mastery and geopolitical intent. In this, the map is not only descriptive but diagnostic, reading the currents of power as surely as it reads the sea.

The artistry is as compelling as the intelligence it conveys. Engraved with grand confidence and enriched by refined coloration, the sheet is crowned by a highly ornate title cartouche in the upper right—an emblem of metropolitan craftsmanship framing a world newly measured. Its reach stretches from the Cape of Good Hope along the eastern African littoral, through the breadth of Asia, to the Australasian margin and the outer scatter of the Pacific. As the most detailed English depiction of these regions on the eve of the nineteenth century, it bridges D’Anville’s learned geography and Britain’s maritime empiricism, fixing a decisive historical moment when knowledge, commerce, and exploration cohered into a single, commanding image.

Countries and regions on this map

• Asia: Various empires, kingdoms, and states.
• Australia: Notably the eastern coast and regions identified as New Holland.
• Indian Ocean: Including surrounding islands and maritime routes.
• South China Sea: Adjacently located regions.
• Eastern Africa: Notable coastlines and regions up to the Cape of Good Hope.
• Polynesian islands: Represented within the maritime context of the map.

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Inset Maps: Includes smaller maps of King George Sound and southern Tasmania, detailing discoveries made by HMS Duke in 1791.
• Hydrographic Details: Careful delineation of trade routes and important waterways of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.
• Decorative Title Cartouche: A highly ornate title cartouche located at the upper right, depicting artistic motifs.
• Regional Borders: Color-coded empires and regions, indicating political boundaries during the late 18th century.
• Geographical Annotations: Labels for significant places, settlements, and maritime routes, reflecting European interests in the region.

Historical and design context

• Created by Richard Holmes Laurie; published by Laurie & Whittle in 1799.
• 18th-century English wall map, expanded in 1799 from earlier editions published by Robert Sayer.
• Represents significant English cartographic revision and geographic discovery over nearly three decades.
• Reflects historical maritime exploration efforts, particularly by British explorers like Captain Cook.
• Political divisions of Asia and its islands, including empires, kingdoms, and states.
• European colonial possessions and trade routes in the East Indies.
• Insights into the early exploration of Australia and the South Pacific.
• Rendered in a grand scale, with elaborate engraving and coloration.
• Represents the most detailed English mapping of the region on the eve of the 19th century, capturing the age of exploration and colonial expansion.
• Inclusion of the latest British surveying efforts from voyages in the South Pacific reflects the map’s contemporary relevance at the time of publication.

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This is a very large map that must be ordered at a large size, so that you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.