DESCRIPTION: SOLD
Large antique French sea chart of the Natuna Island Archipelago located in the South China Sea about 300 miles northeast of Singapore. The Natuna Islands, off the northwest coast of Borneo are technically part of Indonesia although China has included them inside its nine-dash line, an area of the South China Sea within which it claims sovereignty to all the islands, atolls, and reefs. The claims of China are disputed by Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries.
With the route of the French corvette La Favorite during their exploration of the area in 1831. This edition of the chart dates to August 1888. Published by the Depot de la Marine, France's official Hydrographic Agency.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: 1888
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Indonesia
BODY OF WATER: South China Sea
CONDITION: Very Good.
On heavy wove paper. Good impression with ample margins. One light, small 2" stain in upper left.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Caplin
SIZE: 23
" x
35 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $
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