Java-China Japan Lyn

Description

original-colour lithograph.

Vintage folding wall map of the Dutch JCJL Shipping Lines of East Asia, in the year before the beginning of WWII. Fine large format coloured map of the eastern part of Asia including the Philippines as part of a booklet promoting the lines of the Java-China Japan Line. The company’s name figures in Chinese characters on the top right of the map. The map shows shipping routes, ports of call and services of the Java-China Japan Line. It includes a table showing the distances in nautical miles from the major ports of call and service stations such as Manila, Padang, Batavia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe and Yokohama. Three of the ships had been newly commissioned (the Tjinegara (1931), the Tjisadane (1931), and the Tjibadak (1929)) and are proudly advertised on the verso of the map, together with black and white images of the Tjinegar , the smoking room, dining saloon, and the ‘two-bedded’ staterooms.

The Java-China Japan Line was a Dutch owned shipping line, with operations in East Asia. The company began passenger services in 1902. By 1931, the line had 13 ships regularly plying East Asian waters. The map is of interest in that it is a reminder of the important political and economic position that the Netherlands had in the region prior to the outbreak of World War II and the dismantling of Dutch colonies and influence following the Japanese occupation. The Dutch colonies, especially those of the Dutch East Indies, which is now Indonesia, were of importance for natural resources such as rubber plantations and oil fields, but also, because the shipping lanes were, and remain to this day, of strategic importance.

Edward Stanford (1827–1904) was a prominent British mapmaker, publisher and the founder of Stanfords. Stanford’s remain today as the world’s biggest map retailer.