About 1820 the first school wall maps were introduced in Dutch schools. Geography was coming up as an independent science, and there was a growing demand for class teaching aids. The ‘Society for Public Welfare’, established in 1784 in the wake of the Enlightenment, played an important role in the modernization of education in the Netherlands, and was one of the first publishers of school wall maps [1]. In 1843 it was probably also the first to issue a school wall map of the Dutch East Indies. However, as a result of its small size and many details, this school map can hardly be called an effective wall map (see map extract in Figure 1). The ‘Society for Public Welfare’ can not really be blamed for this, as school wall maps that could be used at a distance were ‘invented’ only a few years earlier by E. von Sydow, one of the founders of the school cartography in Germany (‘Wandatlas über alle Theile der Erde’, 1838-1847).
 



In the fourth quarter of the 19th century the first large-sized school wall maps of the Dutch East Indies appeared:
-‘Schoolkaart van Nederlandsch-Indië, op last der regeering vervaardigd door J.F.W. v.d. Willige von Schmidt auf Altenstadt’, 1877, published by C.F. Stemler, 140 x 280 cm, scale unknown;
-‘Wandkaart van Nederlandsch Oost-Indië’, P.R. Bos and R.R. Rijkens, 1881, first edition, published by J.B. Wolters, 200 x 239 cm, scale 1 : 2.000.000;
-‘Schoolkaart van Insulinde’, R. Schuiling, 1898, published by W.J. Thieme, 199 x 247 cm, scale 1 : 2.700.000 [2].
Notwithstanding their large size, these maps contain such an enormous amount of cartographic information that their effectiveness as a wall map, especially in primary schools, is questionable. The school wall map of Java by F. Allan (1876) provides another example of overloading (Figure 2). The detailed drawing and the large amount of geographic names reduce the map clarity and the usefulness as a wall map.




About 1900 a trend towards plain, understandable and effective school wall maps became visisble. In the textbook of H. Zondervan (1898), ‘Proeve eener Algemeene Kartografie’, which has been called the first textbook on cartography in the world [3], this new trend was expounded. A clear illustration of this development provides the ‘Schoolkaart van Oost-Indië’ by J.J. ten Have (1894; see Figure 3). The amount of cartographic information is reduced to the essential minimum. The geographic names do not interfere with the map image and are printed in such a small letter type, that this wall map seems to be unlettered at a distance. Though somewhat dull in appearance, it is in fact a very effective wall map for use as a teaching aid in geography education. The wall map of Ten Have would have to compete with several followers in the first half of the 20th century.