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1943 or Showa 18 World War II Era Japanese Map of India and Pakistan
India3-showa18-1943$125.00
![標準大東亞分圖 - インド / [India.] - Main View](https://www.geographicus.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/L/India3-showa18-1943.jpg)
Title
標準大東亞分圖 - インド / [India.]
1943 (undated) 30 x 21 in (76.2 x 53.34 cm) 1 : 7000000
1943 (undated) 30 x 21 in (76.2 x 53.34 cm) 1 : 7000000
Description
This is a beautiful 1943 or Showa 18 large format map of India, issued by the Japanese during World War II. It covers all of India and Pakistan in great detail, and includes Sri Lanka. The map offers superb detail regarding topographic and political features and notes cities, roads, and trade routes on air, sea and land. Shading is used to display oceanic depths. Includes two insets in the lower quadrants.
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (大東亜共栄圏) was an imperial concept created and promulgated for occupied Asian populations during 1930-45 by the Empire of Japan. The concept was announced by Hachirō Arita on June 29, 1940. The Co-Prosperity Sphere was intended as a self-sufficient 'bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers.' It covered Southeast Asia, Eastern China, Manchuria, Japan, the East India Islands, and parts of Oceania. The idea promoted the cultural and economic unity East Asians, Southeast Asians, and Oceanians.India During World War II
At the time of this map's publication, India was still part of the British Empire. As such, the British Raj was still in control of the country, which led to India's participation in World War II. A strong independence movement existed in India, led by Mohandas Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. The Congress denounced Nazi Germany but would not fight until India was independent. The Congress launched the Quit India Movement in August 1942, refusing to cooperate with the Raj's government until India had been granted its independence. The government did not agree and immediately arrested over 60,000 national and local party leaders, including Gandhi. It is important to remember that Indian served with distinction in Europe, North Africa, Italy, and in Asia. But, perhaps even more importantly, India was brought into the war by an announcement by the British Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, without consulting recently-elected Indian leaders.Publication History
This map was created by the Japanese during World War II and issued as part of a 20 map Series of Great East Asia Maps. The Co-Prosperity Sphere map series was published by the Japan Publishing and Distribution Company, Ltd. (日本出版配給株式會社).Cartographer
Japanese cartography appears as early as the 1600s. Japanese maps are known for their exceptional beauty and high quality of workmanship. Early Japanese cartography has its own very distinctive projection and layout system. Japanese maps made prior to the appearance of Commodore Perry and the opening of Japan in the mid to late 1850s often have no firm directional orientation, incorporate views into the map proper, and tend to be hand colored woodblock prints. This era, from the 1600s to the c. 1855, which roughly coincides with the Tokugawa or Edo Period (1603-1886), some consider the Golden Age of Japanese Cartography. Most maps from this period, which followed isolationist ideology, predictably focus on Japan. The greatest cartographer of the period, whose work redefined all subsequent cartography, was Ino Tadataka (1745 -1818). Ino's maps of Japan were so detailed that, when the European cartographers arrived they had no need, even with their far more sophisticated survey equipment, to remap the region. Later Japanese maps, produced in the late Edo and throughout the Meiji period, draw heavily upon western maps as models in both their content and overall cartographic style. While many of these later maps maintain elements of traditional Japanese cartography such as the use of rice paper, woodblock printing, and delicate hand color, they also incorporate western directional orientation, projection systems, and structural norms. Even so, Japan's isolationist policy kept most western maps from reaching Japan so even 19th century maps appear extremely out of date. The early Japanese maps copy the great 1602 Chinese world map of the friar Matto Ricci. After Shiba Kokan's 1792 map, most Japanese cartographers used Covens and Mortier's 1730 copy of Jaillot's 1689 double hemisphere work as their base world-view. In 1862 Seiyo Sato based a new world map on Dutch sources dating to 1857, thus introducing the Mercator projection to Japan. By the late Meiji Era, western maps became far more common in Asia and Japanese maps began to follow modern conventions. More by this mapmaker...
Condition
Very good. Minor wear along original fold lines. Minor toning and spotting. Accompanied by original cover no. 19.