Carte Reduite D’une Partie de L’Ocean Atlantique ou Occidental

Large navigational chart of the northern Atlantic Ocean published prior to the outset of the Revolutionary War.

Although the United States isn’t featured prominently on this navigational chart, it certainly loomed large in the minds of Europeans around the time of its publication, as it would outbreak into rebellion less than a year later. Charts such as this would become incredibly valuable instruments for wartime navigation, especially as the French became increasingly involved in the conflict against their perennial enemies, the British. The chart shows the Atlantic Ocean from the west coast of Africa and Spain to the shores of New England and the islands of the Caribbean. Rhumb lines, directional aids, crisscross the image originally drawn by Jacques-Nicholas Bellin, the French Royal Hydrographer whose illustrious career spanned over 50 years and hundreds, if not thousands, of different maps.

Bellin’s commitment to scientific accuracy while eschewing the more traditional decorative embellishments popular with his predecessor is evident in the text at the bottom of the chart. It assures the reader the measurements taken to create the image were the most accurate available at the time, as chronometers (maritime clocks) had just been introduced a few years prior to publication and were necessary for accurately calculating longitude. Coordinates for ports, capes, and other landmarks within the chart are then provided in detail alongside the note.