Military Map of Afghanistan Compiled from the Latest Russian and British Official Surveys with Reference to the Anglo-Russian Dispute.

This map shows the borders of Afghanistan in 1885. It reflects the fact that the city of Herat and its environs were ceded by the Qajar dynasty of Persia to Afghanistan under the Treaty of Paris in 1857. The precise delimitation of the Afghanistan-Persian frontier was an ongoing process, however, one that was not completed until 1935. As a result of these changes, the present-day border between Afghanistan and Iran (the successor state to the Persian Empire) lies considerably to the west of the frontier as it appears on the map. The map shows the encroachments by Imperial Russia into the northeastern territory of Afghanistan during the period between 1881 and 1885. Not reflected on this map are further changes brought about eight years later, in 1893, with the establishment of the Durand Line demarcating the boundaries between Afghanistan and British India. The Durand Line shifted the boundary between Baluchistan (in present-day Pakistan) and Afghanistan. The map was drawn by W.J. Wilson and published as part of the book Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian Dispute, by Colonel Theophilus Rodenbough (1838--1912), a Union officer and military hero of the United States Civil War. In addition to his study of Afghanistan, Rodenbough wrote several books on U. S. military history.