PLAN OF BOMBAY AND GOA

NON-EXPORTABLE

a)
Map Maker: Bellin, Jacques Nicolas, 1703 - 1772
Date: 1764
Short Title: Plan de Bombay
Publisher: J.N. Bellin
Place: Paris
Paper size-Height: 20.5 cm
Paper size-Width: 28 cm

Note: Decorative title cartouche. Relief shown pictorially. Depth shown by soundings. Shows settlements.

Full Title: Plan De Bombay Et de Ses Environs
Engraver or Printer: J. Arrivet Publication
Map Maker: Bellin, Jacques Nicolas, 1703 - 1772
Published Date: 1764

This finely executed miniature map depicts Bombay and its environs in the mid-eighteenth century. The compass rose orients the map to the west. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Bombay had begun to develop into a major trade center to which craftsmen of every sort imaginable were thronging. Many came from different regions of India itself, but the city was also a magnet to peoples from afar as Madagascar. In 1770 the Mazagaon docks were built, and soon the British occupied much of the territory. It's difficult to conceive that the city represented here has grown to become the ninth most highly and densely populated urban area on the planet, with an estimated 18.4 million living in the city and its environs. The city shows few details, but some topographical features are noted. A number of the other islands in the immediate area are included, and shoals off the coast of the island serve to warn seagoing vessels of these shallow areas. A decorative cartouche embellishes the map in the lower right quadrant, inside which is included a distance scale in both French and English forms of measurement.

Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) is among the most important mapmakers of the 18th Century..br.

In 1721, at age 18, he was appointed hydrographer (chief cartographer) to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingenieur de la Marine of the Depot des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographical Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.

During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Depot was the single most active center for the production of sea charts and maps, including a large folio format sea-chart of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea-atlases of the world, e.g., the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame, distinction and respect all over Europe and were republished throughout the 18th and even in the succeeding century.


Bellin also came out with smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps to the 15 volume, Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine Francois Prevost or simply known l'Abbe Prevost.

Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, thus gaining for France a leading role in European cartography and geography. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers of Europe.

b).br.Map Maker: Matthaus Merian
Date: 1646
Short Title: Goa
Publisher: M. Merian
Place: Frankfurt
Paper size-Height: 27.7 cm
Paper size-Width: 36 cm

Note: Antique town view of Goa. Printed in Frankfurt by M. Merian in 1646..br.
Full Title: Goa
Map Maker: Matthaus Merian
Published Date: 1646
Published Title: Goa

Beautiful birdeye view of Goa (later hand coloured) in India from Matthaus Merian. Showing the city at the beginning of the 17th century with many ships in the harbour and a cartouche describing 43 buildings. From J. Gottfried's "Neuwe Archontologia Cosmica".

Matthaus Merian the Elder was born September 22nd, 1593 in Basel. He studied drawing and copper engraving from the engraver Friedrich Meyer in Zurich. 1619 he went to Frankfurt where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry, whose daughter he married. He took over and completed the editions of Grand Voyages and Petit Voyages which de Bry started in 1590. Together with Martin Zeiller he produced the popular series of Topographia with total 21 volumes. The work was continued by his sons Matthaus the Younger and Caspar. Merian died June 19th, 1650 in Bad Schwalbach.