Amap in the musty room of the National Archives of India shows Delhi in 1807, shortly after the arrival of the British in 1803. It highlights the hierarchy of settlements, from small to larger villages. The map marks out Shahajahanabad, Tughlaqabad, Mooralee and the Qutab Minar complex and is attributed to British surveyor FS White.

This illustration of Delhi in the 19th century is one of the first maps in Pilar Maria Guerrieri’s book, Maps Of Delhi.
“The smaller settlements are indicated only by name, and the delicate, miniature abstraction of villages, at times even trees, give this map an element of unique artistic expression,” writes Guerrieri about this map titled Sketch Of The Environs of Delhi.

In her exquisitely produced book, Guerrieri arranges maps chronologically from as early as the beginning of the 19th century, to depict Delhi and the various influences that have caused its evolution into the city as we know it now.

In 2011, the architect chose India to do her PhD research in architectural design, architectural composition, criticism and theory. “Italy has a strong background in terms of using mapping as a tool to understand cities,” Guerrieri told Scroll.in. She was inspired by an Italian architect, Saverio Muratori, to study Delhi through its maps. Muratori had systematically surveyed Venice and Rome by comparing historical maps. Over the next three years, Guerrieri pored over old maps and books in dusty libraries, visited strangers’ houses when physically measuring areas and built up a collection of maps of which 61 have been published in the book.

The pre-independence maps included in the books are from the collection of maps drawn by British cartographers.

Mughal Library