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This is the April 1945 printing of Sheet 14 of the official Carte routière de l’Indochine, depicting the south-central coast of Vietnam from Phan Thiết north to Ninh Hòa, with a focus on the region around Nha Trang. Compiled during the final phase of French colonial control, the map shows a complex network of roads and paths, categorized as colonial, local, provincial, and communal, with distances in kilometers, as well as railways, airfields, customs and telegraph stations, military posts, and disputed boundaries. The terrain is carefully modeled with brown contour lines and spot elevations; rivers and marshes are shown in blue. Chief towns, villages, and local administrative centers are marked with detailed symbology.
Drawn by the Service Géographique Militaire d’Indochine (SGMA) and published in Paris by the newly organized Institut Géographique National, this issue is of particular historical interest. Just weeks before this map was printed, Japanese forces overthrew the French administration across Indochina in a coup on 9 March 1945. With French cartographic production in Hanoi and Saigon interrupted, this sheet was likely printed in France under wartime constraints. Distribution of the 1945 series within Indochina appears to have been extremely limited. The dual-language legend, rare for the period, suggests intended utility by both French officials and Allied military forces.
Rarity
This 1945 state of Feuille 14 is scarce. Earlier editions were issued in 1937 and 1944, but few April 1945 impressions survive. The National Library of Australia holds a full set of the 1945 Carte routière series, including this sheet.
A rare and revealing artifact of late colonial cartography, capturing the strategic geography of central Vietnam at a pivotal moment between French rule and the First Indochina War.
Provenance
Contemporary ink annotations, seemingly noting cumulative distances (up to 1550.8 km? total) along a coastal railway.
