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This is an 18th-century French “Map of the Peninsula of India Beyond the Ganges” was created by M. Brion de la Tour, the Ingénieur-géographe du Roi (King’s Engineer-Geographer). The map offers a detailed depiction of Southeast Asia as it was understood by French cartographers in the late Enlightenment era.
Geographically, the map covers the area east of the Indian subcontinent and west of the Philippines, centering on mainland Southeast Asia and parts of Insular Southeast Asia. Prominent regions and political entities labeled include the Royaume de Pegu (Kingdom of Pegu, now Lower Burma), Tonquin (northern Vietnam), Cochinchine (southern Vietnam), Cambodge (Cambodia), and Siam (Thailand). To the west, the Bay of Bengal is marked, while the eastern edge of the map reaches the Philippine Islands. Coastal settlements, river systems, and mountain ranges are carefully detailed, reflecting European geographic knowledge shaped by trade, exploration, and missionary activity.
Louis Brion de la Tour (ca. 1743-1803) was a French geographer and demographer. Little is known about Louis’ early life, but some glimpses of his professional life survive. He did achieve the title of Ingénieur Géographe du Roi. Much of his work was done in partnership with Louis Charles Desnos, who was bookseller and geographical engineer for globes to the Danish Crown. He worked on the Indicateur fidèle ou guide des voyageurs, qui enseigne toutes les routes royales between 1762 and 1785. During his career he also worked on several atlases. By 1795, he had gained a pension from the National Assembly. Perhaps this pension was granted in part because his son, also Louis Brion de la Tour (1763-1823), was an engraver who made Revolutionary prints, as well as maps.
![Peninsula Del Indo a esta parte del golfo del Ganges [&] Peninsula del Indo de la otra parte del golfo del Ganges](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/113113.jpg)
