This 1885 map shows the region between Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, and British India, an area of intense imperial rivalry between the British and Russian Empires in the late-19th century. British possessions are colored in red and include British India, Cyprus, the Aden Protectorate (present-day Yemen), Socotra Island (Yemen), and the northern littoral of the Horn of Africa, which became the protectorate of British Somaliland (present-day Somalia) in 1888. The map shows railroad lines and submarine telegraph cables. The railroad network is at this time more developed in India and the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire than in the other areas shown on the map. Distances between major port cities are indicated in miles (one mile = 1.61 kilometers) on the telegraph lines and in the table showing distances between the Egyptian ports of Alexandria and Suez and the European ports of London, Marseilles, and Brindisi, Italy. The map is by Edward Stanford Ltd., a London map seller and publishing house established in 1853 by Edward Stanford (1827–1904), known for its London shop catering to famous explorers and political figures.