Search

This late 19th century large-scale (1:30,000) map show just a section of the Siak River, in the Riau province of Sumatra. Bathymetry (water depth) is shown in figures to aid navigation, with various landmarks noted along the river’s banks.

Details of each area’s resources are printed on this map of Sumatra: rattan, coffee, pepper, Chinese cinnamon, tobacco, resins, camphor, cotton, coal, gold, lumber, elephants, horses, as well as the locals’ ethnicity (Malays, Javanese, Acehnese).

The use of hachures—short lines/dashes that give a sense of the shape and steepness of terrain—highlight the mountain ranges along the west coast of this map of Sumatra. Many rivers flow east from the mountains to the Malacca Strait.