Berghaus'S Part Of Arabia Petraea And Palestine Map (1839) And The Royal Geographical Society: Misuse Or Misunderstanding?

This article presents the story of the map drawn by the German cartographer Heinrich Berghaus and his attempt to illustrate the pioneering route of the American scholar Edward Robinson and his companion Eli Smith through the western Negev desert. Berghaus sent the map to John Washington, the Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society and editor of its journal, to be published with Robinson's report. The published map, however, added the routes of the French explorer Count Jules de Bertou on the Negev's eastern side. Through a complex network of actors, this case study reveals the close British-German relations in science and cartography of the nineteenth century.