Abstract:
One of the most valuable sources of Safavid Iran is historical maps produced by Europeans in the 16-18th centuries. While these maps portray different aspects of Iran's history and geography, they also offer crucial information concerning the boundaries, particularly with India. By studying the Safavid maps, this research attempts to examine the evolution of the territorial boundaries of Iran with India. The findings show that European cartographers in the 16th century had an ancient notion of boundaries, which developed and grew closer to the reality of the Safavid era during the 17th century. In the 18th century, cartographers began to record additional details, such as routes and demographic categories.
Machine summary:
Information available in historical texts of the Safavid period regarding border disputes between Iran and India is generally based on reports about the conflict between the two sides over the state of Kandahar; In such circumstances, referring to historical maps can reflect a broader view of the territorial boundaries of Iran with India.
In general, the data available in the historical maps of the 10th/16th century shows that European cartographers believed that the territorial boundaries of Iran with India were the same as the borders of Iran in ancient times, extending to the Indus River and the Hindu Kush mountains.
Nicolas Sanson (Refer to the page image) Ibid, 78 Alai,79 However, in the second descriptive pattern, which includes another section of the maps of the 17th century/11th AH, the perception of European cartographers of the territorial boundaries of Iran with India changed; so that that ancient and long-standing understanding from the perception of European cartographers disappeared and gave way to a situation closer to the reports of historical texts of the Safavid period or the existing reality.
Sanson, in a map he drew of the continent of Asia in the middle of the 11th/17th century, used signs and symbols in the form of lines and color coding to determine the territorial boundaries of various regions of this continent: the border between Iran and India began from west of Kabul and east of Balkh and, passing through the western limits of Kandahar and west of the Indus River, extended to the port of Debal on the shores of Makran (Map No. 5).
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