Major James Rennell
(3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830)
English geographer,
historian and a pioneer of oceanography.
James Rennell, (born Dec.
3, 1742, Chudleigh, Devon, Eng.—died March 29, 1830, London), the
leading British geographer of his time. Rennell constructed the first
nearly accurate map of India and published A Bengal Atlas (1779), a work
important for British strategic and administrative interests.
While serving in the Royal Navy (1756–63) Rennell became an expert
surveyor. In 1762 he accompanied the Scottish geographer Alexander
Dalrymple to the Philippines. Rennell later joined the East India
Company and became surveyor general of Bengal (1764–77) and of Bihār and
Orissa (1767–77). Until he left India in 1777 he was responsible for
producing numerous local and provincial maps.
After returning to London, Rennell devoted himself to geography and
gained international eminence, his residence becoming a gathering place
for travelers from around the world. When the famed explorer Mungo Park
returned from West Africa in 1797, Rennell, as adviser to the African
Association, organized the notes and provided the illustrations and
route map for Park’s classic work, Travels in the Interior Districts of
Africa. Three editions of Rennell’s Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan
appeared between 1783 and 1793. His plan for a comprehensive study of
western Asia resulted in a two-volume study of the geography of
Herodotus and A Treatise on the Comparative Geography of Western Asia
(1831), among other works. He also wrote on oceanography.
| Maps Created by Major James Rennell | |||
 |
 |
|
 |
| 1776 map of Bengal and Bihar | 1777 map of northern-central India | 1786 map following the Ganges River | 1786 map following the Ganges River |
source: wikipedia.org