Maps

An elegant map of Java published in France in the middle of the eighteenth century. Bantam is shown as is the city of Jacatra au Batavia and Royaume de Jacatra. Some mountains and volcanoes are indicated. Isles Cracatoy (Krakatoa) appears in Detroit de la Sonda (Straits of Sunda). I. de Bali appears at the other end of Java.

The French cartographer Nicolas Bellin worked for over fifty years at the French Hydrographic Service where he was appointed the first chief hydrographic engineer of the “Depot des cartes, plans et journaux du Ministere de la Marine”. While working there he was commissioned to carry out major surveys of all the known coasts of the world. This resulted in the production of a large number of sea charts of the highest quality which appeared in many editions with varying numbers of charts. He was appointed ‘Hydrographer to the King’ and was a member of the Royal Society in London. Among the books and atlases that contained Bellin’s maps of China and South East Asia were Abbe Prevost’s Histoire Generale des Voyages 1746 and Le Neptune Francais 1753.