Revisiting the History of the Bengal Delta in Maps and Atlases

In the 17th century, lands to the east of the river Ganges were not known or mapped. Trade, sea commerce, and navigation in the Indian Ocean and in South and Southeast Asia made European cartographers aware of the existence of other major rivers in the region, welcoming further exploration. This paper takes the many lives of the Brahmaputra, originating in Tibet, running through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in north-eastern India, crossing Bangladesh to its confluence with the Ganges, and finally flowing into the Bay of Bengal, as the world's largest delta to contribute to a historical understanding of the delta formed. Earliest mentions of this river are indicated yet never shown in Mercator's corrected edition of his Asia sheets (1630s), followed by du Halde and d'Anville's maps of Tibet (1730s), before James Rennell's surveys (1760s). We also find mentions of the river in literary texts and pre-modern cartography. With greater movement and mobility of Europeans in the Indian subcontinent, the Brahmaputra became established as a river for transport, navigation of boats, and the natural source of irrigation to its banks for agriculture and tea plantations. With a small selection of historical maps, I will discuss the Brahmaputra and its journey from Assam to the Bengal delta, with the core question of how this river and its delta were represented in maps and atlases, thus attempting a revisiting of its histories as seen in maps and atlases.