Born c. 1832,
India
Died c. 1882,
India
Upon presenting Nain Singh a gold medal on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain in 1878, the viceroy of India, Colonel Henry Yule, remarked that Singh’s “observations have added a larger amount of important knowledge to the map of Asia than those of any living man.” Singh not only had a brilliant career as a mapmaker but also repeatedly risked his life as a spy for Great Britain. He was the first of the Indian “pundits” who were trained by the British to go where Westerners were forbidden entry.
During the 1800s the major world powers were determined to open up previously unexplored areas for trade and access to resources. Russia and China had competing interests in the Far East. Under the rule of Queen Victoria, Great Britain had acquired an empire that stretched around the world. India was considered its most important colony.
In 1852 Thomas George Montgomerie, a British army engineer, joined the Great Trigonometrical Survey with the mission of mapping all of India. By 1864 he had completed mapping the domains of the maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir, located in northwestern India, which was a considerable accomplishment.
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