18th century map of the Mogol Empire

A map of the empire of the Great Mogol, covering northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bengal, also showing parts of Burma. The two illustrated cartouches (for title and scale) and the vignette ship show the quality of the impression. It is based on information supplied by Sir Thomas Roe (c.1581-1644), ambassador to the emperor Jahangir between 1615-8. At a time that roads were not usually shown on maps, this marks his route to the court as a line of villages from Surat via Agra, Delhi and Lahore, through the Khyber Pass to Jalalabad and Kabul in Afghanistan. His route was a southern spur of the Silk Road, making this one of the few contemporary maps to include such information. A very fine example.