1863 Tsim Sha Tsui map | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

1863 Tsim Sha Tsui map

1863 Tsim Sha Tsui map
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Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Thursday, January 1, 1863

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A copy of this map appears as Plate 4-1 in Mapping Hong Kong, with notes:

As seen in Chapter 2, the mapping of Kowloon began as soon as the lease was signed. The first survey was by A.F. Alves, on behalf of the Surveyor-General, Mr. Cleverly. The mapping was part of a survey at eight inches to one mile (1:7,920) which took in the main settled area of Hong Kong Island. Kowloon may, in fact, have been added as an afterthought, since it is done to a less detailed specification. Unfortunately, all that seems to have survived is the version with the proposed roads shown, which tend to obscure the existing details. This plate shows a retrace of the planning version (see Kowloon in Plate 2, Chapter 2) which is useful for detail of the early coastline and interesting old names, oddly spelt and many long since forgotten. The road planning appears rather amateurish and, in fact, very little, if any, of it was carried out. [...]