COLLECTION NAME:
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Record
Author:
Voenno-Topograf Otdele (Military Typographic Division Russia)
Date:
1877
Short Title:
Karta Aziyatskoj Turtsii (Map of Asiatic Turkey)
Publisher:
Voenno-Topograf Otdele Tiflis
Publisher Location:
Tiflis (Tbilisi Georgia)
Type:
Case Map
Obj Height cm:
65
Obj Width cm:
98
Scale 1:
2,100,000
Country:
Turkey
Country:
Syria
Country:
Iraq
Country:
Lebanon
Subject:
Ottoman Mapping
Full Title:
Karta Aziyatskoj Turtsii Sostavlena Po Noveiishim Svedeniiam. I Litografirovan V Voenno-Topograf. Otdele. 1877. Tiflis.
List No:
10517.002
Series No:
2
Publication Author:
Voenno-Topograf Otdele (Military Typographic Division Russia)
Pub Date:
1877
Pub Title:
Karta Aziyatskoj Turtsii Sostavlena Po Noveiishim Svedeniiam. I Litografirovan V Voenno-Topograf. Otdele. 1877. Tiflis.
Pub Note:
Color lithographic map showing railroads, major and minor roads, telegraph stations and post offices, and administrative units. Russia and Turkey had many military battles in this period and the map would have been used by Russian military planners. Ownership signature and date of 1894 on the cover. This is likely to be one of the first detailed Russian maps depicting the Middle East (the territories of modern Israel, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, North-East of Egypt (Cairo, Port Said, Suez Canal), and Cyprus).A large map of Turkey in Asia (Asia Minor/Anatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, and Syria) with a part of the Russian Trans-Caucasia published in Tiflis under control of the Military Topographic Unit of the Caucasian Military District in 1877. The Military Unit was designed to improve cartographic techniques and supply troops with maps and plans; therefore, it can be assumed that the publication of Turkey in Asia had its own political motives and was triggered by the latest developments in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. A military conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Coalition (led by the Russian Empire and consisting of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro) broke out shortly after the 1876 Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman rule. Atrocities committed against the rebels (the Turkish army suppressed the revolt, massacring up to 30,000 people), also known as “the Bulgarian Horrors”, and bad treatment of Christian minorities in the empire triggered international condemnation which culminated in Russia declaring war on the Ottoman Empire in April 1877. Russia’s involvement in the conflict stemmed from its interest in recovering the territorial losses (mainly Bessarabia) it had suffered after the Crimean War and gaining control over the Black Sea region. The war ended with the defeat of the Ottomans in 1878. In the aftermath of the conflict, Bulgaria gained its autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, the de facto sovereign states of Montenegro, Serbia and Romania were recognized independent and Russia established its rule over Kars, Batum, and Bessarabia. The map displays the area of Turkey in Asia from Sinop in the north to the Dead Sea in the south, with Ottoman Crete in the west and Pandzvin in the east. The map is densely annotated and marks 12 administrative units (Bursa,Izmir, Konya, Kastamonu, Ankara, Sivas, Trabzon, Erzurum, Diyarbakir, Halab (Aleppo), Baghdad, and Damascus), main cities, towns and settlements, provinces, mountains, rivers, islands, canals, etc. It’s curious to note that Kars and Batum are already shown as the Russian territories although they remained Turkish prior to the war. It was not until the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano that the Ottoman Empire officially ceded territories to the rival country.
Pub List No:
10517.000
Pub Type:
Case Map
Pub Height cm:
26
Pub Width cm:
24
Image No:
10517002.jp2
Authors:
Voenno-Topograf Otdele (Military Typographic Division Russia)
Link To Source
Karta Aziyatskoj Turtsii (Map of Asiatic Turkey)
