Printed from www.AntiqueMapart.com Catalogue on Thursday, Mar 28 2024

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1812 - Carte d'une partie de la Terre Napoleon a la Nouvelle Holland. 2me Feuille Levee

Map makerSizeMap IDCondition
Freycinet 755 x 500 mmD1 / M41 / I18Excellent condition example with wide margins and centre fold as issued. Extremely mild foxing

Chart by Freycinet showing Baudin's voyage of 1802 in which he charted the coastlines of Australia at the same time that Matthew Flinders was circumnavigating Australia. The chart is designed for navigators and exploration rather than casual perusal by the public and so has a high degree of execution.

The chart shows the southern coastline between Cape Jaffa in South Australia to Warrnambool in Victoria. This is one of the largest sections of the 500kms of coastline discovered by Baudin’s voyage. Mainly shown on the left side of the map and whose region would have extended slightly further west to Encounter Bay where Flinders would come into contact with Baudin’s voyage heading west. Flinders eventual published charts gave credit to Baudin’s discovery of this part of the coast, which had not been previously reciprocated on Freycinet’s charts of the voyage showing Flinders discoveries.

Louis Claude Freycinet (1779-1842) accompanied Baudin during the French voyage surveying the coasts of Australia between 1800 and 1803. At this time, much of Australia’s coastline was only known from old maps dating back as far as the 1600s. Additionally a considerable part of the southern coastline was yet to be mapped at all. At the same time an English voyage captained by Matthew Flinders was just ahead of the French voyage, circumnavigating the continent. Interestingly, even though today we credit Matthew Flinders as ‘completing’ the map of Australia it was in fact Freycinet’s chart from the French voyage which lead to the first ‘complete’ map of the continent. ‘Carte Generale de la Nouvelle Holland’ displays the continent with an illustration of an eagle and coastal scene in its corner. Published in 1811, the map was completed three years before Matthew Flinders published his account and charts. Controversially a vast majority of the Australian coastline which had been discovered and named by Flinders was later on renamed. Most notably Spencer’s Gulf was renamed Bonaparte’s gulf and the gulf of St Vincent became the gulf of Josephine. This is best illustrated on Freycinet’s map ‘Carte generale de la Terre Napoleon’ (1811). Flinders’ names soon rightfully replaced those by Freycinet.


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