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Description

Fabulous antique engraved map of most of the present-day United States, based upon De L'Isle's monumental map, centered on the Mississippi River.

The map provides marvelous detail in the interior of the present-day United States on either side of the Mississippi, including the early French forts. The exploration & settlement west of the Mississippi is also shown, including forts, Native American villages, and other placenames.

The map highlights the unknown region in Northern Texas & the Native American Territories, between the Mississippi and Rio Grande. The first settlements west of New Orleans along the Gulf Coast and the interior of Texas are shown, along with the courses of a number of rivers.

Jacques Nicolas Bellin Biography

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.