War Office Archive

These datasets relate to maps and documents held at the British Library in the War Office Archive, a collection of over 14,000 mostly unique, hand-drawn items that were originally kept by the British War Office between c.1880 and 1940 for use in compiling printed maps over large parts of the world.

The items came from a variety of sources, including military surveyors, explorers, missionaries and spies, and provide a unique insight into the world during the colonial era. They yield the names of historical settlements and regions, descriptions of historical land use, topography and vegetation, and notes of ethnographic, military or administrative context.

We would appreciate it if users could read our Ethical terms of use guide before reusing our War Office Archive datasets: https://www.bl.uk/help/ethical-terms-of-use.

We'd love to hear what you've done or made with the data, so please email us at digitalresearch@bl.uk.