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This finely engraved map of Bermuda was produced by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin for the first volume of his Petit Atlas Maritime (Paris, 1764). Drawing upon the most reliable English surveys of the period, Bellin renders the archipelago with a high degree of precision, placing it within a radiating network of rhumb lines and surrounding it with detailed shoal spot-markers and navigational hazards. A scale of two French marine leagues appears at the bottom center.

Though labeled with the older name “Isles de Sommer,” a reference to Sir George Somers and the 1609 Sea Venture wreck that led to English settlement, the internal divisions and placenames reflect contemporary eighteenth-century British administration. Each of the nine parishes is labeled as a “Canton,” with ports, bays, forts, and anchorages carefully identified. Hamilton, not yet the capital, appears as a gridded plan labeled below “Baye de Harrington.” The map’s eastern portion includes the fortified harbor of St. George’s and Castle Harbour, while the treacherous reef system encircling the islands is depicted through a dense constellation of small crosses, typical of French hydrographic charting.

Bellin engraved this chart as part of his broader mission at the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine, where he served as chief hydrographer. His Petit Atlas Maritime was intended to provide the French Navy and merchant fleet with dependable charts of key ports and waypoints throughout the world. Although modest in scale, this map of Bermuda played a role in disseminating strategic geographic intelligence at a time when French and British imperial interests were increasingly at odds across the Caribbean and North America. Reissued in later editions of Bellin’s works, the chart remained the standard French depiction of Bermuda for decades.