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Royal Siamese Manuscript Map of Thailand and Cambodia, c. 1800

Placed with the Library of Congress, this extraordinary c. 1800 Siamese manuscript map represents one of the most important cartographic discoveries handled by Geographicus.

Drawn by hand on handspun linen and inked on both sides, the map is believed to be a working draft associated with the celebrated Royal Siamese Maps, a group of large indigenous Thai manuscript maps discovered in the Grand Palace in Bangkok in 1996. Its close relationship to that corpus, combined with its draft qualities, corrections, and distinctive Siamese cartographic conventions, suggests that it may predate the finished Royal Maps and may be among the earliest surviving examples of Thai cartography.

The map is especially significant because it documents a sophisticated indigenous Southeast Asian mapping tradition long assumed not to have existed before sustained European engagement in the 19th century. Rather than reflecting European cartographic models, it preserves local geographic knowledge, route systems, riverine networks, place names, and political geography as understood within the Siamese world.

Its placement with the Library of Congress ensures that this unique survival will be preserved, studied, and made accessible within one of the world's foremost cartographic collections.