1896 Maps by J.G. Bartholomew (UK)

John George Bartholomew or J.G. Bartholomew (22 March 1860 - 14 April 1920) was a Scottish cartographer and geographer. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the Prince of Cartography".Bartholomew came from a celebrated line of map-makers: he was the son of John Bartholomew Junior, and the grandson of the founder of John Bartholomew and Son Ltd.

These two maps were made by J.G. Bartholomew in 1896 for the Handy Reference Atlas of The World (John Walker & Co. Ltd. UK).

The first map is "JAPAN AND KOREA". [Click the map to enlarge] As it was just after the Shimonoseki Treaty (1895), Taiwan (Formosa) is shown as Japanese territory. You may notice that the national border can be seen as broken line, which shows that Japanese territory included Taiwan (Formosa), Ryukyu (Liu Kiu) islands, Tsushima and Dagelet island (Matsu-sima). Although the map didn't show Liancourt Rocks, it is obvious that Bartholomew knew that the rocks to be Japanese territory.

Please take a look at the 2nd map: "CENTRAL JAPAN". [Click the map to enlarge] It depicted literally the central Japan, mainly Honshu (mainland) with Shikoku. Please look at the islands in the Sea of Japan. The great cartographer precisely drew Liancourt Rocks (Hornet island) in this map of Japan. It is obvious that Liancourt Rocks were generally thought to be Japan's rocks, nobody believed that they were Korean territory in those days. It was a kind of common sense until Rhee Syngman stole the rocks in 1952.