The David Parry Southeast Asian Map Collection

The David Parry SE Asian Map Collection forms the main body of the current map exhibition in National Library on the early maps of SE Asia and Singapore, entitled 'The Land of Gold and Spices'.

The entire collection comprises 254 maps of Southeast Asia, with emphasis on the islands that make up present day Indonesia. The oldest map in the collection is a 1478 Ptolemaic map of South East Asia, Tabula Asiae XI from Arnold Buckinck's edition of Ptolemy's Geopgraphia [1]. Other maps from mapmakers such as Fries, Ruscelli, Ortelius, Linschoten, Mercator, Dudley, Blaeu, De Wit, Coronelli, Thornton, Moll, Bellin, Bonne, Valentijn etc. traced the development of the mapping of Southeast Asia from the 1500s to 1800s.

The collection was acquired by the National Library of Singapore at a Sotheby's auction in May 2012 at a price of GBP223,250 (or about SGD448,700 at the conversion rate in May 2012).

Snapshot from Sotheby's webpage. The map shown is one of the highlight of the collection:  A Map  of the East Indies and adjacent countries; with the settlements, factories and territories, explaining what belongs to England, France, Holland, Denmark, Portugal &c. by Herman Moll,  London, 1717.

David Parry is a soil scientist and has worked and lived in  Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) for much of his life. He started to assemble his map collection in the early 1980s. He is the author of the book The Cartography of The East Indian Islands: Insulae Indiae Orientalis (Countrywide Editions, London, 2005).

References
[1] With the acquisition, this map became the oldest article in the collection of National Library of Singapore, according to the exhibition curator, Tan Huism. 

When did Singapore become an island? Part I

On the earliest printed maps that feature Singapore, there is no indication that cartographers realized that it is an island. In fact, Singapore was usually depicted as a cape. The map (Fig. 1) below is an example. The map India Tercera Nova Tabula is from the Venetian mapmaker Giacomo Gastaldi's edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. It features Southeast Asia, with the Malay peninsula appearing near the middle of the map. 

Name: India Tercera Nova Tabula (from Gastaldi's edition of Ptolemy's Geographia)

Year: 1548

Mapmaker/publisher: Giacomo Gastaldi

Type: Copper Engraving

Figure 1. India Tercera Nova Tabula. Picture source link.

Fig. 2 is a close up look near the middle of the map, where the Malay peninsula is.

Figure 2.. 

Near the bottom right of the map in Fig. 2, one can read C. Cincapula. Cincapula no doubt denotes Singapura, while the C. denotes 'Capo' or cape in italian.

This map is also of interest, as it is the second earliest printed map to feature a variant of the Singapore toponym [1].

There are also examples of many other maps where Singapore is presented as a cape, such as...
 

Name: India Terza Ostro Tavola (from Vol. 1 of Ramusio's Delle Navigation  Viaggi) 
Year: 1554
Mapmaker/publisher: Giacomo Gastaldi and Giovanni Battista Ramusio
Type: Woodcut

Figure 3. Terza Ostro Tavola by Giovanni Ramusio. Picture source link.

In this map by Ramusio, the orientation is south-north instead of the more usual north-south. This map is notable for being one of the first maps to feature the Philippines. But that is not what we are interested in here. What we are interested in here, the Malay peninsula, is this 'leg' like feature on the right of the figure, jutting upwards. Figure 4 is a close up view of the tip of the peninsula. At the extreme tip and you will see C. de cimcapula. Again, we have Singapore as a cape in this map. 

What is more intriguing is that right beside C. de cimcapula, there is an island. Is Ramusio trying to depict the the island of Singapore? 

Figure 4. Close up view of the tip of 

Probably not. Firstly, the island is way too big to be Singapore island. Secondly, Muar is written on the island, not Cimcapula.  

If it was just this one map, it could easily be attributed to this cartographer's imagination. However, it turns out that there are too many maps that have this 'too-big-to-be-Singapore' island feature to consign it to simply an 'artist's impression'.

According to NUS historian Peter Borschberg, this feature appeared as early as 1537 [2]. This feature persisted and appeared on maps published as late as 1623 [3].

Here are some examples of important and famous maps that have this 'too-big-to-be-Singapore' island feature.

Figure 5. This is a close up look of the map of Southeast Asia from Jan Huygen van Linschoten's Itinerario. the North-south axis of map is along the horizontal direction. This is the English version dated to 1598. Picture source link

Name: Nova tabula insularum Iavae, Sumatrae, Borneonis et aliarum Malaccam usque, delineata in insula Iava, ubi ad vivum designantur vada et brevia scopulique interjacentes descripta (from  Part II of Theodore de Bry's Petits Voyage)

Year: 1598

Mapmaker: Willem Lodewycksz

Type: Copper Engraving

Figure 6. Willem Lodewycksz's  Nova tabula insularum Iavae, Sumatrae, Borneonis...etc... The above map is part of the collection of the National Library of Singapore. See source link.

So, if this feature does not represent Singapore island, then what does it represent? 

That will be the question that we will try to answer in a future blog entry.

References

[1] T. Suarez, Early Mapping of Southeast Asia (Periplus, Singapore, 1999). p. 104 

[2] P. Borschberg, 'Singapura in Early Modern Cartography: A Sea of Challenges' in Visualising Space: Maps of Singapore and the Region (National  Library Board, Singapore, 2015) 

[3] P. Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese (University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1961). p. 165. 

The Old Protestant Cemetery of George Town, Penang

In old George Town, along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (which used to be called Northam Road) is the old Protestant cemetery. It is a short walk from the E & O Hotel.  Here lie many people important to the history of Penang. Chief among them, Francis Light, the founder of George Town, Penang. There are also a few names here that are associated with the history of Singapore.

James Richardson Logan (1819-1869)

James Richardson Logan is best known as the founder and editor of the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (JIAEA), a journal that was based in Singapore. JIAEA "was the first attempt to promote a literary or scientific periodical in the British Settlements in the Far East..." [1]. It ran from 1847 to 1859 and contained articles on the history, geography, language, ethnography, botany, zoology, etc. of Southeast Asia and the surrounding region. Although several people contributed to JIAEA, it was very much a one man show by its editor and founder, and was popularly called Logan's Journal.

Tomb of James Richardson Logan and his brother Abraham

Despite its demise in 1862, JIAEA inspired the formation of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and the publication of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, which was first published in 1878. It eventually evolved to become the present day Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 

J. R. Logan and his brother Abraham were among the first 32 shareholders of a library that was established in 1844, to be housed at the Singapore Institution [2]. This library later became the Raffles Library and eventually the National Library of Singapore.

Through the publication of JIAEA, James Richardson Logan contributed significantly to the intellectual environment of Singapore and the Straits Settlements. 

George Windsor Earl (1813-1865)

Tomb of George Windsor Earl

George Windsor Earl was an English navigator who was active in the seas between Batavia and Singapore in the 1830s. Based on his travels, he wrote a book entitled [3]: 

The Eastern Seas or Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago 1832-33-34,

comprising a tour of the island of Java -- visits to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Siam, &c.; also an account of the present state of Singapore, with observations on the commercial resources of the archipelago. 

This is an often-quoted book with detailed description of Singapore in the 1830s. G.W. Earl was also a friend of J.R. Logan and contributed articles to the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia.

John Alexander Bannerman (1759-1819)

John Alexander Bannerman. Picture source link

Probably the most important person associated with Singapore's history who lies in the cemetery, is the fifth governor of Penang (Nov 1817- Aug 1819), John Alexander Bannerman. Modern Singapore was almost stillborn because of him.

In late December 1818, Stamford Raffles arrived in George Town, from Calcutta. With him were instructions from the Governor-General Lord Hastings (the boss of all the British East India Company officials including Raffles and Bannerman), for "the establishment of a Station beyond Malacca, such as may command the southern entrance of those Straits"[4]. The instructions also requested Bannerman and the government of Penang to assist in Raffles' mission. However, Bannerman was not supportive of Raffles' mission and even tried to prevent Raffles from leaving George Town. One main reason for Bannerman's actions was his reluctance to let a confrontation between the Dutch and British ensue if Raffles were to establish the proposed trading station. Bannerman, and indeed Raffles and Lord Hastings, well knew that the other end of the Straits of Malacca (where the southern tip of the Malay peninsula and the Riau-Lingga archipelago lies) was under Dutch hegemony [5]. There was also suspicion that Bannerman's  motives were less than honourable, stemming from jealousy of Raffles and the fear that the new trading post would eclipse the importance of Penang.

Tomb of John Alexander Bannerman, fifth governor of Penang

Drama and scheming ensued. To cut a long story short, Raffles, ever the maverick, outwitted Bannerman, sneaked out of George Town, and on Jan. 28th, landed in Singapore, and the rest is history.

Even after the founding of Singapore, Bannerman tried to undo what Raffles had done. He denied Raffles' request of troops to be sent to Singapore to help in its defence. It took a countermand by the Governor-General Lord Hastings to force Bannerman to supply the necessary troops [6].

A few months after these incidents, Bannerman died during a cholera outbreak on Penang Island.

If Bannerman had succeeded in frustrating Raffles' mission, there may not have been any modern history of Singapore to write about. Singapore may have ended up as just one of the thousands of insignificant islands that Indonesia has (for there may not have been a British Malaya as well), and Singapore today may very much be like present day Karimun Island. However, before we judge Bannerman too harshly, let us consider if history had turned out slightly differently. What if the Dutch had  decided to attack Singapore at the critical point of Singapore's nascent existence in 1819-1820? This would have set the British and Dutch forces on a war path, just as Bannerman had feared. History would then have judged Raffles a reckless adventurer, and Bannerman a cool-headed statesman. 

In the end, the Dutch decided to fight a 'paper' war instead of a military war. Letters and diplomatic maneuvers, instead of bullets and shells, flew between Batavia, Calcutta, Amsterdam and London. This eventually ended  in the 1824, when the Anglo-Dutch treaty firmly placed Singapore under the British sphere of control.  

Date of Visit: 7th Jan. 2015 

References
[1] C. B. Buckley, An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore 1819-1867 (Fraser & Neave, Singapore, 1902) p. 467.
[2] ibid. p. 419.
[3] G.W. Earl, The Eastern Seas or Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago 1832-33-34... (W.H. Allen and Co., London, 1837)
[4] C.E. Wurtzburg, Raffles of the Eastern Isles (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1954) p. 461.
[5] M. Langdon, Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830. Volume One: Ships, Men and Mansions (Areca Books, George Town, 2013) pp. 297-300
[6]  C.E. Wurtzburg, Raffles of the Eastern Isles (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1954) p. 514