Carte Nouvelle de la Grande Tartarie ou de L’Empire du Grand Cham

An impressive reduction in the vast scope of the Central Asian steppes!

This is an incredible truncation of Asia’s geography; condensing the vast breadth of the continent in an image bounded (approximately) by the Caspian Sea, the White Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East Siberian Sea. Populated areas and geographic features (forests, mountains, etc.) are depicted pictorially, with small discrepancies in the former noting differences between ‘settled’ and nomadic peoples. Annotations offer a fascinating variety of contemporary details, like the impassability of Arctic ice floes and Eastern tribes that ride without a saddle and eat raw meat. An outline of several northern sections of the Great Wall of China can be seen in the lower right.

The copperplate-engraved sheet was originally published in Paris as part of Henri Abraham Chatelain’s important Atlas Historique. This monumental seven-volume set was first issued in Amsterdam between 1705 and 1720 but was re-printed in numerous in several subsequent editions until the late 1730s. The scholarly, but approachable, work was aimed at a broad audience, eager for new information during the Age of Enlightenment. The breadth of content offers a nuanced synthesis of geography, cosmography, history, religion, ethnology, and political science. The descriptive text (in French) and skillfully engraved maps, diagrams, and illustrations provide a fascinating window into the world of the early 18th century.