Original antique map by Bellin. From vol. 3 of "Histoire Generale Des Voyages" by Abbe Prevost. Published in The Hague by Pieter de Hondt in 1748. Later hand colouring.
Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exiles (or Abbe Prevost) created the multi-volume “Histoire” between the years 1746-1759, recounting major voyages of discovery and descriptions of far flung parts and including around 240 maps, plans and charts of those areas.
These maps, plans and charts were mostly produced by Jacques Nicolas Bellin.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772), a French geographer, was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at the age of 18, he was appointed hydrographer of the Ministry of the Navy following the French hydrographic office's creation and the Dépot of charts and plans of the Navy. Appointed hydrographic engineer in August 1741. Member of the Academy of the Navy and the Royal Society of London.
Over the course of a 50-year career, he drew the maps of several major works of his time such as Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle-France de Charlevoix (1744); Histoire générale des voyages de l'Abbé Prévost (published between 1746 and 1759) ); Neptune François (1753), Hydrographie Françoise (1756-1765), and Petit Atlas Français (1763) - reissued as Petit Atlas Maritime (1765). He is the most copied cartographer of the 18th century.
