Mappe-Monde sur le Plan de l’Equateur Hemisphere Septentrional

The Northern Hemisphere through the eyes of the French, on the eve of the Revolution.

This fascinating polar projection map of the Northern Hemisphere, then encompassing much of the ‘civilized’ world, was published in Paris by Rigobert Bonne in 1787. A few signs of French preferences can be seen – British Canada truncated at the Great Lakes and minimized in India, while Louisiana extends beyond the Mississippi into the newly formed United States.

Cook’s discoveries are incorporated throughout the Pacific, though a tempting Glacial Sea can be seen connecting Baffin Bay to the Bering Sea. The Crimea is shown as a Russian possession – it was successfully annexed from the Ottomans in 1783. Tartary is a geopolitical adjective used to describe several provinces in Asia (Chinese Tartary, Russian Tartary, Independent Tartary, etc.).