1964 Rashdan Road Map of the Arab World

A scarce and colorful large-format folding transportation map of the Arab World, prepared by Abdel-Aal Mohammed Rashdan and printed in 1964 by the Arab Federation of Touring Car Clubs and Associations.

A Closer Look

Covering much of southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East, this map highlights the Arab world. Major roads, railroads, pipelines, oil fields, cities, and political borders are all labeled according to the legend below the title. Egypt retains the name 'United Arab Republic' here, though the union had been a dead letter since 1961, when Syria withdrew from the arrangement. A neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (abolished in 1970) appears near the more familiar diamond-shaped neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

On the main map, Palestine remains unified with Arabic placenames, but an inset at top-right displays the contemporary situation of Israel and the Palestinian territories, with details on the amount of land occupied in different areas measured in dunam. At this time, Gaza was under Egyptian administration, while the West Bank had been annexed by Jordan; both areas would be occupied by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Abdel-Aal Mohammed Rashdan (عبد العال محمد رشدان) in 1964 for the Arab Federation of Touring Car Clubs and Associations (الإتحاد العربى لنوادى وجمعيات السيارات السياحية), based in Cairo. Little is known about the cartographer aside from his having worked for a firm called the Cairo Drafting Office (مكتب القاهرة للخرائط), while the federation appears to only have had a brief existence in the mid-late 1970s. We are unaware of any other examples of this map in institutional collections or having appeared on the market.