Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703 – 21 March 1772) was a French hydrographer, geographer, and member of the French intellectual group called the philosophes. Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.

---

Size: 3069px × 4556px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1750, 18th, asia, asian, atoll, bellin, cartography, century, chart, indian, island, jacques, maldives, maldivian, map, ocean