MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: The New Straits Times (page 5)

For instance, in 1839, 53 years after Captain Francis Light established a British settlement at Penang - John Murray of London published a map which called Penang "Prince of Wales Island" and Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai) "the Province of Point Wellesley".

Pulau Aman was then known as Pulau Ara while Pulau Kendi, "Saddle Island". Pulau Betong was also called "Pigeon Island".

Teluk Pak Bidan near Permatang Damar Laut on Penang's south coast was called Smith's Cove while Tanjung Maseri, just north of Pasir Panjang beach on the southwest corner was called "Bannerman's Point".

The doomed "James Town" which was planned by Light's crony and business partner James Scott, who ended up a bankrupt, is also shown between Sungai Nibong and Sungai Keluang, and facing Pulau Jerejak. This area has today become the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone.

On the west coast of Penang Island, Sungai Pulau Betong was also called "Pirate River" while Sungai Nipah was known as "Red River".

On the earliest European charts and maps, the Malay peninsula is referred to as "Aurea Chersonesus" (the Golden Chersonese), the name given by Clau-dius Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer and mathematician, and the greatest figure in the ancient world in the advancement of geography and cartography.

In the earlier maps, the shape of the peninsula was still inaccurate. However, Martin Waldseemuller's map of the Malay peninsula which appeared in the Strassburg edition of Ptolemy's Geographia of 1513 did show the peninsula's proportions fair accurately.

Malacca and an island off the east coast which was probably Pulau Tioman, were also marked , both of which being already known to Chinese mariners.

Historical records show that when the first Europeans called at Malacca, it was already an influential regional power and a thriving trading centre.

To the Portuguese, Malacca was a natural place to begin their entry into the region. They saw Malacca primarily as a strategic trading post for trade with the archipelago and beyond.

Trade with the peninsula was not regarded as being of great significance when compared with the cloves and nutmegs from the Spice Islands, pepper and gold from Sumatra and the entrepot trade in goods from India, China, Pegu (Myanmar), Siam and Cambodia. In fact European traders initially sought only tin from the Malay states.

During Europe's Dark Ages, Islamic and Chinese cartography made progress. The Arabs translated Ptolemy's treatises and carried on his tradition.

Two Islamic scholars, Ibn Haukal and al-Idrisi, deserve special mention. Ibu Haukal wrote a Book of Ways and Provinces, illustrated with maps and al-Idrisi constructed a world map in AD 1154 for the Christian king, Roger of Sicily, showing better information on Asian areas than had been available before. In Baghdad, astronomers used the compass long before the Europeans.

Chinese map-making, like so many aspects of art and science, develop independently. The oldest known Chinese map is dated about AD 1137. Most of the area had been mapped in crude form before the arrival of the Europeans.

Before Light established a British settlement at Penang Island in 1786, Malacca was the only significant European outpost on the peninsula.

According to historical records, James Lancaster had identified Penang as a possible trading post or settlement as early as 1592. His expedition, one of the earliest English expeditions to Southeast Asia, had arrived at Penang via northwest Sumatra.

European maps of the 16th and 17th centuries only gradually featured details of the peninsula because of its impenetrability and the lack of commercial incentive to overcome this problem.

Malacca often received undue prominence and was often shown covering most of the southern part of the peninsula -quite an exaggeration of the real extent of European influence and control.

Of the Malay states, Selangor, Kedah, Pahang, Perak and Johor appear on surviving regional maps of the 17th century.

Town maps of Malacca were first produced by the Portuguese and only in later years by other mapmakers.

From these, it is possible to trace the town's development as well as its fortifications, especially the great fortress, "A Famosa".

The Straits of Malacca were, and are, an important sea route. To the Portuguese, Dutch and English, charting of the straits and adjacent coastline was therefore an important preoccupation.

Fewer maps of the east coast north of Pulau Tioman were produced. In 1820, however, John Crawfurd prepared a map of the east coast based on observations taken from the survey ship, Investigator.

However, serious mapping of the interior of the peninsula beyond the vicinity of the Straits Settlements of Malacca, Penang and Singapore did not take place until the late 19th century.

This reflected the extension of British influence over the Malay states and the British interest in drawing accurate boundaries between the Straits Settlements and the Malay states, and between Siam and the northern Malay states.

The Survey Department of Malaya was established in 1885 and it was given the responsibility of preparing accurate surveys of the interior.

From hereon, mapping of the peninsula was done on a scientific basic although the natural obstacles of terrain and jungle were formidable, as they still are today.