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This 1764 map focuses on the Moluccas (Spice Islands) in modern-day Indonesia, a region renowned for its pivotal role in the global spice trade during the Age of Exploration. The islands depicted include Ternate, Tidore, Motir, Makian, and Bacan, along with parts of the nearby Gilolo (Halmahera) coastline.
Notable locations include Fort Hollandois on Ternate and Fort Maurice on Machian, highlighting the strategic military and trading posts established by European powers. The eastern coastline of Halmahera is labeled as Partie de l'Isle de Gilolo, emphasizing the map’s focus on the archipelago’s central islands.
Bellin's map prominently marks colonial fortifications and settlements, underscoring the European competition for control of these spice-producing islands. By the mid-18th century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) dominated the Moluccas, having wrested control from Portuguese and Spanish influence in earlier centuries. The inclusion of forts and trade posts reflects the islands’ critical role as suppliers of coveted spices such as cloves, nutmeg, and mace, commodities that fueled exploration and colonization.
Published as Plate 68 (Tome III. No. 68) in Bellin’s Petit Atlas Maritime, this map reflects the geopolitical and economic importance of the Moluccas in the 18th century.
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.
![[ Battle of Ternate, Indonesia / Fort Malayo / Chinese Trading Post! ]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/104228.jpg)
![[ Spice Islands ] Moluccae Insulae](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/103763.jpg)
![[ Bangka Strait ] Plan of the Straits of Banca Surveyed by Captn. Lloyd of the Elliot Country Ship and Mr. Bampton in his Passage from China to Batavia and from Batavia to Malaca . . . 1796](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/94800.jpg)