DESCRIPTION: Old French map of Saint Dominque- the island of Hispaniola not yet divided into political entities of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Topography is shown in relief with extensive shading and hachuring. There is extensive depiction of the roads, rivers, and towns that populate the interior of the island. While the map does provide the user with visual geographic details, the is no information either of elevation of the terrain, nor are there any depth soundings.
The map was published by the Depot de la Marine in "An XI" - the 11th year after the French Revolution of 1803. Two changes on the map from an earlier edition of the same map published before the revolution are that the Depot de la Marine logo incorporates the letters "R.F." (Republique francaise) and the town previously denoted as "Port au Prince" is called "Port Republicain" in the post-revolutionary edition.The Depot de la Marine was established in 1720 under the French Ministry of the Navy to collect, preserve, and publish nautical charts, sailing directions, and maritime intelligence for the French naval service. Its purpose was both archival and practical: to centralize geographic knowledge gathered from voyages, surveys, and colonial administration, and to convert that information into standardized charts for navigation. Over the eighteenth century the Depot became the principal hydrographic authority of France, issuing engraved sea charts that incorporated data from naval expeditions, colonial outposts, and scientific voyages.
Following the French Revolution, the institution was reorganized and its chart production expanded, particularly during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as global maritime competition intensified. The Depot de la Marine supervised official surveys, revised earlier charts, and maintained copperplates for continued reissue as coastal knowledge improved. In 1886 it was formally reorganized as the Service hydrographique de la Marine, the predecessor of today’s French hydrographic office. Charts bearing the Depot imprint remain important records of French naval activity, colonial expansion, and the technical development of European hydrography.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1803
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Dominican Republic
BODY OF WATER: Caribbean Sea
CONDITION: Good.
Some weakness at the fold repaired from the verso.
COLORING:
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 35
" x
21 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 51
PRICE: $750
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