1780 Bellin Map of South Africa and Mozambique

This is a 1780 Bellin map of the southeastern coast of Africa, starting at the Cape of Good Hope and continuing around to the island of Comoroa (Comore ou Angasi on the map) and part of Madagascar. Bellin drew the information for this chart from his own superb 1740 chart of the Indian Ocean, Carte Reduite de l'Ocean Oriental ou Mer des Indes Contenant Les Costes d'Afrique. It was this grand chart, and not the present lovely if narrowly-focused engraving, that was produced 'Par Ordre' of the Count de Maurepas. It seems slightly misleading that Bellin should here invoke this famous French statesman, naval strategist and spymaster, given that the present map was to appear in Harpe's 1780 Abrégé de l'histoire générale des voyages, which epitomized Prévost's Histoire générale des voyages - a work perhaps better known for its imaginative flourish than for its factuality. This map is notable, however, for its focus on the indigenous African national names that appear on it.

Publication History and Census

The map was executed in 1742 for inclusion in Prévost's Histoire générale des voyages, and was again printed in 1780 for Harpe's abridged edition of that work. This map appears on the market from time to time, but OCLC lists perhaps seven copies of the separate map in this edition, although inconsistencies in cataloguing mean this number may be higher. Prévost's Histoire and Harpe's abridged version of it are well represented in institutional collections.