Whose India?

The last gasps of the British Raj in India.

This eye-catching poster map presents a dramatic, but somewhat oversimplified, assessment of India’s religious dichotomy. Hindu-dominated areas are shown in black and their counterpart Muslim areas in white, with large stippled regions in the former reflect significant minority populations in the native states. Red circles highlight the industrial regions around Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. The proposed state of Pakistan predates the actual formation of the country (and Indian independence from Britain) by about two years.

The map was designed by Robert M. Chapin, Jr. and published as a supplement for the July 16, 1945 issue of TIME Magazine. Chapin was a professionally trained architect who found jobs to be in low demand during the Great Depression. He took a job in the photo department at Newsweek in 1933, where he apparently picked up a knack for cartographic design. By 1937, he was hired by Time (a rival of Newsweek) as the head of the cartography department, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1970.

During his long tenure at Time, Chapin’s prolific output helped establish a pattern for 20th-century newsroom cartography. The use of bold colors, uncluttered design, and legible typography was immensely popular, and the maps were reprinted for distribution in classrooms and public spaces throughout the country. Despite their widespread appeal, the maps are uncommon on the market and often overlooked in institutional collections. This version is listed in only two examples in WorldCat as of May 2024, at Franklin & Marshall College and Stanford University. OCLC# 320452780