1939 Stanford Map of East Asia: Java-China Japan Steamship Line

A dramatic large-scale c. 1939 Edward Stanford map promoting the Java-China Japan (JCJL) steamship line (the company's name in Chinese characters appears at top-right, 渣華中國日本輪船公司). It serves as a reminder of the interconnections throughout East Asia that persisted despite geopolitical tensions in the 1930s.

A Closer Look

Coverage extends from Mongolia to Java and northern Australia and from Burma to New Guinea, embracing China, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, the East Indies, and the Philippines. Blue lines trace the routes of the JCJL through the Yellow, China, and Java Seas, while a darker line indicates the Trans-Siberian and China Eastern Railways at top. A table of distances between major ports is provided at bottom left. Five scales and a brief legend indicating rail and telegraph lines appears at right.

Java-China Japan Line

The Java-China Japan Line was a Dutch shipping and passenger line in East and Southeast Asia founded in 1902 by Ernst Heldring (1871 - 1954). Heldring was also the founder of several other shipping companies serving the East Indies inter-island trade including Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM), Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN) and Rotterdamsche Lloyd (RL). The firm maintained regular services, as illustrated here, between China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, the East Indies, and French Indochina, despite increasing tensions between Japan and other countries, especially China, which resulted in full-scale war in 1937. Under a variety of names, it remained operational until 1970, when it merged with several other firms to form Nedlloyd. Java Road in Hong Kong is named after the line which had its headquarters there in the early 20th century.

Publication History and Census

This map was produced in London by Edward Stanford's Geographical Establishment - the premier mapmaker in early 20th century London. It likely went through many iterations, of which we can find no clear breakdown. Based on the shipping lines, we estimate this map to have been issued in the 1930s. The presence of Manchukuo indicates a date of 1933 or later, while Sikang (Xikang) Province in China suggests a date in the very late 1930s. However, Beijing retains the name Peiping (Beiping) and no reference is made to the Second Sino-Japanese War, which drastically upset these shipping routes, suggesting that the map was produced in the early stages of the conflict. An example is part of the David Rumsey Map Collection. We also note examples cataloged in OCLC as part of the collections at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Leiden University, and the University of Michigan, cataloged with various dates.