1853 Dépôt de la Marine Nautical Map of the Coast of China: Hong Kong / Macau

This is an 1853 French Dépôt de la Marine nautical map of the coast of China from Hainan to Nan'ao Island (Namao), including Macao, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou (Canton). The chart was issued to support growing French trade with China in the Treaty Port Era.

French Trade with China

Guangzhou (Canton) had been a center for international trade for over 1,000 years by the time this chart was published. From 1700 to the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, the 'Canton System' forced all foreign trade with China to pass through Canton. After the Treaty of Nanking, five open treaty ports (Shanghai, Canton (Guangzhou), Ningpo (Ningbo), Foochow (Fuzhou), and Amoy (Xiamen) opened, and Hong Kong was leased to the British Empire. On October 24, 1844, France signed the Treaty of Whampoa with the Chinese, which stipulated that China would grant France the same privileges it granted to Britain in 1842, including the opening of the new treaty ports to French merchants, a fixed tariff on Sino-French trade, extraterritorial privileges for French citizens in China, and the right to station consuls in China. The first French Catholic charity was founded in 1843, after which French Catholic missionaries were extremely active throughout China. This chart, published between the First and Second Opium Wars, focuses on Canton and the surrounding region, underscoring the city's continued importance to French traders.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Ferdinand Antoine Jules de la Roche-Poincié and published by the French Dépôt de la Marine in 1853 during the Second French Empire. An empty OCLC record exists for this map, suggesting that a former OCLC member institution created the entry.