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This map depicts the town and port of Trapani, located on the western coast of Sicily.
The map illustrates the town’s strategic position on a narrow peninsula extending into the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by notable geographic and maritime features that emphasize its importance as a naval and trading hub in the 18th century.
The chart includes key landmarks, such as le Fort, situated at the tip of the peninsula, indicating a fortified position essential for defending the harbor. Within the town, the outline of la Ville is carefully drawn, showing a concentration of buildings, while nearby structures like N.D. de Trapane (Notre Dame of Trapani) and the surrounding Salines (saltworks) highlight important economic and religious sites. The presence of salt pans, essential to the local economy, is particularly prominent near the southern coastline.
To the west of the town, offshore features such as les Senelles (small islands) and the navigational soundings in brasses d’eau (fathoms) offer sailors crucial depth information. The cartographic lines radiating from a central compass rose suggest routes for vessels approaching or leaving the harbor, ensuring safe navigation in and out of the port.
Surrounding Trapani, the map depicts the rugged, mountainous terrain, including the notable Montagnes d’Ancien Trapano, marking the site of ancient settlements. The Tour des Salines (salt tower) and Tour du Colombar further emphasize the defensive and economic significance of the town and its surroundings.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at only the age of 18, he was appointed Hydrographer to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.
During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Dépôt was the one of the most active centers for the production of sea charts and maps in Europe. Their output included a folio-format sea atlas of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea atlases of the world, including the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame and distinction all over Europe and were republished throughout the eighteenth and even in the nineteenth century.
Bellin also produced smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely-detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps for the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost.
Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, cementing France's leading role in European cartography and geography during this period. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers across the continent.
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