{"product_id":"first-map-of-singapore-by-thomson-1846-boat-quay-high-st-n-s-bridge-rd-govt-qtr-bras-basah","title":"First Map of Singapore by Thomson 1846: Boat Quay, High St, N\/S Bridge Rd, Govt Qtr, Bras Basah","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlan of Singapore Town and Adjoining Districts (1846), by John Turnbull Thomson, Government Surveyor, is the first large map of Singapore grounded in modern surveys. At a moment when the settlement surged under British administration, Thomson fixes the town’s mercantile heart around the Singapore River and Boat Quay, while delineating the administrative spine along High Street and North and South Bridge Roads. As a city map, it is remarkable for pairing meticulous urban detail—streets, government compounds, ecclesiastical sites—with color-coded land uses that pull the surrounding districts into the narrative. The decorative cartouche announces a work of official precision and aesthetic ambition, making this not only a definitive portrait of mid‑nineteenth‑century Singapore, but a touchstone for understanding how the city’s fabric took form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWithin the compact town, Thomson’s plan isolates civic authority and commerce with unusual clarity. Government buildings anchor the precincts near High Street and St. Andrew’s Road, where the English Church rises, complemented by the Catholic Church on Bras Basah Road and a Mahomedan Mosque and Chinese temple that signal the settlement’s plural character. Victoria Street, Hill Street, and North Bridge Road knit these districts to the bustling quays, while Cantonment Road and Tanjong Pagar Road serve the harbor’s labor and warehousing quarter. Clearly marked Malay and Chinese burying grounds fringe the built-up core, mapping the cultural geography as faithfully as the physical streets. As urban cartography, the sheet excels: it inventories institutions, differentiates residential and governmental spaces, and reveals a working colonial town in the act of organizing itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeyond the civic grid, the map unfolds a living agrarian landscape. Color-coded parcels distinguish sugar plantations from coconut groves, and individual icons flag Nutmeg Trees and Coconut Trees that once underwrote Singapore’s export economy. Orchard Road and River Valley Road thread through estates where spice and fruit cultivation thrived; Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road trace inland routes to upland farms, while Upper Serangoon Road and East Coast Road connect coastal kampongs and fields to the town markets. The damp flats around Kallang Road and Rochor Road read as productive margins, their waterways feeding cultivation and transport. Even the offshore margins are alive with detail: coral reefs stipple the southern approaches, and Blakan Mati Island is noted, situating the urban experiment within a precise maritime and ecological frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThomson’s authority is everywhere in evidence. As Government Surveyor and an accomplished architect—later the designer of the Horsburgh Lighthouse—he fused accuracy with vision, deploying early modern survey techniques to measure, classify, and present a rapidly changing colony. His draughtsmanship renders topography with uncommon fineness, while the color-coding system translates land tenure and use into an intelligible urban atlas. Roads like Bukit Timah and Bras Basah appear as planned spines rather than mere tracks, testament to a surveyor who was also shaping the city’s future alignments. The decorative cartouche and carefully keyed symbols demonstrate official purpose, but also a sensitive eye for design, placing the work among the nineteenth century’s most sophisticated exercises in practical, policy‑driven cartography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Plan’s enduring power lies in its synthesis. It captures Singapore on the cusp—still edged by plantations and reefs, yet already articulated by streets, quays, and institutions that would define the metropolis. By enumerating government compounds, churches and mosques, Chinese and Malay burying grounds, and the workaday arteries of Boat Quay, South Bridge Road, and River Valley Road, Thomson offers more than a street plan: he records a social compact. As an early scientific city map, it underpinned governance, taxation, and infrastructure, and today it allows us to trace the emergence of neighborhoods from Bras Basah to Tanjong Pagar. For collectors and historians alike, it is an unusually rich, aesthetically compelling key to Singapore’s origins as a city of trade, faith, and careful survey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStreets and roads on this map\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnderson Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBoat Quay\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBras Basah Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCantonment Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEast Coast Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHill Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHock Lee Avenue\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHigh Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKallang Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMarina Boulevard\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNorth Bridge Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOrchard Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRiver Valley Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRochor Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSouth Bridge Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSt. Andrew’s Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTanjong Pagar Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUpper Serangoon Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVictoria Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWaterloo Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBalestier Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBukit Timah Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDunearn Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJln Besar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLornie Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMandai Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePaya Lebar Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThomson Road\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYishun Avenue\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotable Features \u0026amp; Landmarks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgricultural areas including sugar plantations and coconut groves.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBio-geographical features like Nutmeg Trees, Coconut Trees, and Coral Reefs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePublic buildings including an English Church, Catholic Church, Chinese temple, and a Mahomedan Mosque.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotable gravesites including Malay and Chinese burying grounds.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGovernment buildings marked within the urban layout.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical and design context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1846 Plan of Singapore Town and Adjoining Districts by John Turnbull Thomson, Government Surveyor.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFirst large map of Singapore based on modern surveys.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShows extensive detail of urban development and land use in Singapore and surrounding districts.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDepicts building types, bio-geographical features, and agricultural areas.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMarks important public and ecclesiastical buildings (Chinese temple, mosque, churches).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUses color-coding for land uses and highly detailed topography; features a decorative cartouche.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReflects rapid urbanization and growth following British colonization.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRepresents early modern survey techniques and 19th-century cartographic practices.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThomson had a significant role as a surveyor and architect in Singapore, including designing the Horsburgh Lighthouse.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMentions regions such as Blakan Mati Island within the Singapore context.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLooking for a particular place?\u003c\/strong\u003e Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eask our workshop to check before you order\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDetailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/map-personalisation\"\u003eSee personalised map examples\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003erare old and vintage maps\u003c\/a\u003e to discover another place, period or style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Map","offer_id":67610359103879,"sku":null,"price":352.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":67610359136647,"sku":null,"price":948.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":67610359169415,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":67610359202183,"sku":null,"price":352.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":67610359234951,"sku":null,"price":948.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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