Table des Zones et Climats Terrestres

A scarce 18th diagram outlining the various climatic zones of Europe.

“Table of Terrestrial Zones and Climates from the Equator to the Pole and of its particular application on a map of the Kingdoms of Europe, with the direct distance of their capitals from Paris. To serve to fix the extent of the Five General Temperatures of the Earth, the Length of the Longest Days or Nights at each latitude, and the situation on which states have with each zone and climate.” [approximate title translation].

This neat copperplate engraved map was issued in Paris around 1761 by Philippe Buache, official geographer to King Louis XV of France. According to the John Carter Brown Library,

“Philippe Buache was a member of the Delisle-Buache succession of French cartographers that straddled the eighteenth century, and, as of 1729, was the premier géographe du roi, following in the footsteps of his father-in-law Guillaume Delisle. While his cartographic output didn’t rival that of Delisle’s, Buache can be credited with producing extraordinarily creative and innovative maps based on theories of geology, geography and bathymetry – the mapping of the depth of water in oceans, rivers and channels – that he developed over the course of his career.”

The image presents a distorted map of Europe divided into distinct kingdoms, including the continental presence of Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The area is subdivided into climatic zones with corresponding degrees of latitude explained in detail on either side. The territorial extent of each nation is noted, as well as its respective capital’s distance from Paris. Text at the bottom of the sheet alludes to similarities with the Peutinger Table, a Roman map of the Empire similarly elongated, though on the opposite axis.

Source: John Carter Brown Library