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  • Carte Reduite De L'Ocean Septentrional compris entre l'Asie et l'Amerique Suivante les Decouvertes. . .par les Russes. . . .

Carte Reduite De L'Ocean Septentrional compris entre l'Asie et l'Amerique Suivante les Decouvertes. . .par les Russes. . . .

  • ARTIST: Jacques Bellin

  • MEDIUM: Copper plate engraving,

    DATE: 1766

  • EDITION SIZE: Image size 22 x 33 1/4" (556 x 845 mm) plus margins.

  • DESCRIPTION: An important and highly detailed large scale map of the Northwest America and Northeast Asia, including Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, and the confluence of the Mississippi River with the Missouri and Ohio Rivers. While the map's primary focus is on the Russian Discoveries in Alaska and the Northwest Coast of America Coast, based upon Berhing, Chirikov, and De L'Isle, the map is of great interest for its treatment of the course of the Mississippi River Valley as well. Bellin's map is based upon Buache's Nouvelle Carte des Decourvertes, issued in 1758. The map extends indefinitely to the north and notes that the mythical voyage of De Fonte. The tracks of the voyages of Vaisseaux, Chirikov and Berhing are noted. Often overlooked is the Mississippi River, which here is shown extending to Lac Rouge, then to Lac Ouinpique (Winnipeg) and Lac Bourbon, then continuing to Hudson Bay, making for an uninterrupted water route from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. A similar water course from Lac Oinipique to Lake Superior is suggested, although more tentatively so. The course of the Missouri and Ohio Rivers are well illustrated, although the source of the Missouri is unknown, trailing off nera the Nation Du Serpent, and then joining up shortly later with the speculative Route de L'Ouest, a mythical river which has its outlet into the Pacific Ocean at the bay discovered by Martin d'Aguilar in 1603 (also mythical). In modern day Alaska, Bellin shows how Bering and Chirikov touched on various points of the Aleutians and sighted Mount St. Elias, the 18,000 ft. peak located near the top of the Alaska panhandle. The Pacific northwest immediately south of that point is entirely conjectural. The tracks of the Russian voyages of Bering and his deputy Aleksei Chirikov are noted.

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Good condition. Black & white

  • REFERENCE:

  • CATEGORIES: Maps