ICT's
Map Project is an initiative to collect, analyze and distribute old maps of
Asia depicting Tibet through the ages. The project graphically shows how boundaries
of Tibet have shifted over time and demonstrates that prior to 1949. Tibet has
had a long and distinguished history as a distinct territory or country.
ICT's map collection includes many types of maps from around the world. Some show Tibet as its own distinct territory or country, some show it as part of other areas such as Tartary and some show it attached to a Chinese empire. We now have about 20 originals or high quality reproductions and 50 high resolution scans. Most of the scans are from the map collection at the Library of Congress, which has an enormous collection. We plan to post scans of ICT's collection on this website, as we enlarge the collection.
ICT's 2008 wall calendar reproduces 12 of the maps from 1680 to 1942. The earlier ones often show a mythical lake from which all of Asia's main rivers were thought to originate. In the 1700s, Tibet is often referred to as a "Kingdom." One 1827 map even shows Tibetan territory stretching down the Bay of Bengal, in between "Hindoostan" (India) and the "Burman Empire," as if Tibet had a seaport. An 1860 map shows Tibet as an independent country that includes "Little Tibet," currently Ladakh. A 1942 map shows Asia during the Second World War where part of China was occupied by the Allies and part occupied by Axis. Tibet is shown as independent but Amdo and Kham are under China. Every map has layers of politics, history and intrigue as the reader deciphers borders, spellings of place names, geographical accuracy, etc. [Read the calendar essays]
We also have 24 of the maps in an exhibit in our conference room, with explanatory captions written mainly by Tsering Wangyal Shawa, head librarian of the Geographic Information Systems at Princeton University. The exhibit will be up through spring of 2008. ICT staff member Chris Fletcher researched and built the collection. If you have old maps showing Tibet that could be scanned, or want more information about the project, please write to mapproject@savetibet.org
Project details
