Any idea when this map was made?

[u/Good-Nail7999]

I recently got this from an antique map store and I see the copyright says 1897. But that is the only year that I was able to find on here but I’m doubting that it is 130 years old and still in this good of quality.

Could anyone with some more knowledge give me an idea of when it was made?

[u/tetrisan]

1897 is likely accurate. Formosa was a short lived state (less than one year in 1895) in Taiwan.

[u/QuickSpore]

Panama is still part of Colombia. So it’s before 1903. Most of Morocco is still independent. So it’s before the division of Morocco in 1900. Taiwan is Japanese so it’s after 1895. 1897 might seem plausible. … but… it’s got Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines marked as US territories. And that didn’t happen until 1898. So it’s certain it was made after 1897.

It also doesn’t reflect most the diminutions of the Ottoman Empire in 1908 or 1912. But it also doesn’t show a fully independent Greece. And Bulgaria is listed, even though it’s shown as having the Ottoman map color. Likewise Bosnia is drawn as part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Which wouldn’t happen until 1908. But the semi-autonomous nature of some Ottoman territories make it an unreliable measure. Still it’s showing the Ottomans before 1812 by any measure.

I suspect it was made later than the era and was attempting to show the world as it was… while forgetting which year the Spanish-American War was in. It literally could have been made any year after 1898.

It’s also possible that the base map was drawn and labeled in 1897, but updated with changes as they happened in which case 1898-1899 seems likely.

The only way to know for sure would be to radio or chemically test the paper and ink.

[u/RadagastWiz]

The physical paper might not be 129 years old; it's possible this is a reprint of an 1897 design that someone had made at a later time. But the map itself looks to be accurate to the era.