. English: This is a fascinating combination of two contrasting maps on a single sheet. Both maps cover the northeastern parts of Asia and the northwestern parts of North America. This two map chart was originally drawn by Phillip Buache to expound upon his theories regarding the northwest coast of America and more specifically upon the possibility of a Northwest Passage. The upper map, entitled “Carte des Nouvelles Decouvertes” is a combination of data absconded from the Russian “Academy of Sciences” and Buache’s speculations on the Northwest Passage. When Joseph-Nicholas de L’Isle, younger
. English: This is a fascinating combination of two contrasting maps on a single sheet. Both maps cover the northeastern parts of Asia and the northwestern parts of North America. This two map chart was originally drawn by Phillip Buache to expound upon his theories regarding the northwest coast of America and more specifically upon the possibility of a Northwest Passage. The upper map, entitled “Carte des Nouvelles Decouvertes” is a combination of data absconded from the Russian “Academy of Sciences” and Buache’s speculations on the Northwest Passage. When Joseph-Nicholas de L’Isle, younger brother of the better known Guilleme de L’Isle, returned from his tenure at Russian Tzar Peter the Great’s “Academy of Sciences” he decided to publish a compilation of secret cartographic data obtained from previously unknown Russian expeditions to Kamtschaka and the coast of Siberia. These seminal explorations included the discoveries of Tchirikow, Frondat, Bering, among others. De L’Isle produced a ground breaking and largely accurate mapping of the peninsula of Kamchatka and the coast of northeast Asia - shown here. De L’Isle contracted Buache, already a prominent cartographic figure due to his introduction of hachures as a method for displaying elevation on a two dimensional plane, to complete the North American part of the map. Buache used the mythical voyages of Admiral de Fonte and Juan de Fuca as his cartographic source material. The two sides of this map therefore could not be more heavily contrasted, for the mapping of Asia is largely accurate where the mapping of North America is almost entirely fantastical. This map shows the “Sea of the West”, supposedly discovered by Fuca, as well as the series of lakes, rivers, and canals heading eastward toward the Baffin and Hudson Bays that were purportedly first identified by De Fonte. These include Lac de Fonte, Lac Belle and Lac de Valasco. The Aleutian Islands are drawn, based upon various recor
Size: 2509px × 1992px
Photo credit: © The Picture Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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