Carte D’Une Partie de La Chine..

The route from Canton to Peking in the late 18th century.

In 1783 Chretien Louis Joseph de Guignes was appointed as attache to the French consulate in Canton, China. Under the Canton System, the port city was the only location available for Western merchants to trade with the Qing Empire and, as such, was of critical economic importance to numerous European powers. Guignes would eventually serve as the official interpreter of the Dutch ambassador to Qianlong Emperor, who celebrated his sixtieth year on the throne in 1795 (he would then die the following year).

The mission was apparently a success, as the party developed cordial relations with the Chinese court during a period of rapidly increasing tension. Guignes and his colleagues were among the last European diplomats to visit the Qing Emperor until after the end of the Opium Wars over sixty years later. He returned to France in 1801 and wrote an extensive volume on the numerous observations made during his 17-year career overseas (published in 1808).

It is from that volume, Voyages a Peking, Manille et l’Ile de France, that this pair of maps originate. It shows the route taken by Guignes and the Dutch ambassadors from Canton (modern-day Guangzhou) to Peking (modern-day Beijing), over 2,100 kilometers to the north. Topography is depicted pictorially, providing a glimpse of the rugged mountainous terrain in the south.

Each stop is dated and various campsites, settlements, and geographic features are labeled. Of particular interest is the location where George Macartney, the first British envoy to China, anchored his ship in 1793. The Macartney Embassy was ultimately unsuccessful in obtaining trading privileges with the Qianlong Emperor, and friction between the two powers would continue for the next several decades.

Source: Bibliotheque nationale de France