Sketch Map of the Trans-Indus Countries including Gilgit, Dilail, Yassin &c

This map, published in the Journal of the Royal Geographic Society, charts the route of George J.W. Hayward through the Himalayas to the Pamirs known as the &quotRoof of the World&quot. Hayward in 1868 had approached the Royal Geographical Society asking to be hired as an explorer in central Asia and the western Himalayas. Surprisingly Hayward was provided with �300, surveying equipment, map making instruments and instructions to attempt to reach and survey the then unmapped area. He was to become the only explorer funded by the Royal Geological Society during &#8220The Great Game.&#8221 The valley of Yasin in Northern Pakistan was of significant strategic importance to the British as it leads to the Broghol Pass (‘Burogil’) and into the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. As such, the British were concerned that the Yasin valley could be used as an invasion route by the Russians into India, which led the British to establish the Gilgit Agency in 1877.