Arabia – 1860

This mid-19th-century British map shows the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring parts of Africa, including Egypt, the Sudan, and Abyssinia. The traditional Greek and Roman division of Arabia into the three parts of Arabia Petraea, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix is used. Qatar is shown as Catura. Also indicated are Oman, Bahrain, and the territories of Mecca and Medina.

The map emphasizes the vast, empty interior of the peninsula with such annotations as “great space covered with sand” and “deserts very barren and continued between Mekka and Oman.” Four different caravan routes for pilgrims to the city of Mecca are shown: the Damascus route from the north; the Turkish and African route across the Sinai Peninsula; the Persian route to the northeast; and the Indian route to a port on the Persian Gulf. The locations of water wells along the Persian and Indian caravan routes are indicated.