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A large, richly engraved two-sheet map documenting the geopolitical cauldron of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, a watershed conflict in the long decline of Ottoman power. Published by Andrew Dury, a prominent London mapmaker and military publisher, the map was engraved by Thomas Bowen. The cartouche was engraved by James Caldwall (1739–1822), known for his fine work in portraiture and allegorical composition. It is one of the most elaborate of any British-produced map of the 18th century, prominently dedicating the work to Count Alexei Orlov, commander of the Russian fleet during Catherine the Great’s southern campaigns.

The map covers a broad sweep of territory, extending from Silesia and Podolia in the north to Georgia and Armenia in the south, and from the Danubian Principalities and Transylvania in the west to Astrakhan and the Caspian frontier in the east. The centerpiece is the Black Sea, ringed by strategic towns, river systems, and military waypoints, many of which were actively contested at the time of publication. Political boundaries are shown in full original outline color, and key roads, rivers, and settlements are engraved with exceptional clarity. There is an interesting attempt to render all of the many star forts of the theater in what seems to be their actual configurations.

To the left of the cartouche the map bears a revealing inscription:

"To the Public: His Excellency the Count of Czernichew has been so kind as to communicate to the Publisher some Manuscript and other Maps from which this is extracted."

This refers to Count Zakhar Grigoryevich Chernyshev (1722–1784), a senior Russian general, statesman, and former Governor-General of Little Russia (modern Ukraine). Chernyshev played a central role in Russian military reform and administration under Catherine II. His sharing of manuscript sources with a London publisher speaks to the complex diplomatic networks of the era and the British appetite for accurate cartographic intelligence on shifting Eastern European frontiers.

Geopolitical Context

This map was published at a critical moment in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, a major conflict between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire that unfolded across Ukraine, Crimea, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. Nominally triggered by border tensions and Cossack raids, the war was in fact part of Catherine the Great’s broader southern strategy to break Ottoman dominance of the Black Sea and assert Russian influence in Southeastern Europe.

Britain, while officially neutral, was closely watching the contest. The war destabilized the already fragile Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and drew in Austrian and French interests. Russia’s decisive victory culminated in the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), which granted Russia strategic ports on the Black Sea, the right to protect Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire, and a free hand in Crimean affairs, foreshadowing the annexation of Crimea in 1783. It was a critical turning point in the collapse of Ottoman control in the north and signaled Russia’s arrival as a great maritime and imperial power.

This map, based in part on privileged Russian sources, represents one of the earliest British efforts to visualize the “Eastern Question," the contested fate of the Ottoman Balkans and Black Sea territories, which would dominate diplomatic thought into the 19th century.