1837 Tardieu Chart of the Eastern Coast of Lombok Island, Indonesia

This is an 1837 Ambroise Tardieu nautical chart of the Bay of Peejow on the east coast of the island of Lombok in Indonesia.

A Closer Look

Covering a portion of the southeastern coast of Lombok, this chart includes detailed soundings, anchorages, currents, bottoms, hazards, sand banks, indigenous villages, vegetation, and islands, and navigational information. Two views appear at right, drawn from the points labeled a) and b), depicting the island in profile and a rocky point on the island's southwest, respectively.

Lombok and the Dutch East Indies

Despite sitting next to Bali and near Java, one of the crowns in the Dutch colonial empire, Lombok attracted less direct attention from the Dutch than its neighbors. The island was ruled by Balinese princes, who were periodically resisted by native Sasak elites, who attempted to align with the Dutch to expel the Balinese. At the same time, a degree of cultural assimilation and hybridity took place, with the Balinese rulers practicing a syncretic form of Hinduism and the Sasak adopting a syncretic form of Islam, and the two then influencing each other. In 1894, one of the periodic rebellions against Balinese rule succeeded in convincing the Dutch to intervene militarily, and the island was annexed to the Dutch East Indies. In reality, however, as in much of the East Indies, an indigenous (Balinese-Sasak) aristocracy ruled in tandem with a skeleton Dutch colonial administration and small occupation force. In recent years, as Bali has become an international tourist destination, Lombok has come to be seen as an 'unspoiled' version of its neighbor, causing Lombok to develop its own thriving tourism industry.

The Voyage Around the World by Hyacinthe de Bougainville

Hyacinthe Yves Philippe Florentin de Bougainville (December 26, 1781 - October 18, 1846) was a French admiral and the son of the famous navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville who successfully completed the first French circumnavigation. The younger Bougainville began his circumnavigation from Brest, France, when he left on March 2, 1824, and returned to Brest on June 23, 1826. Bougainville commanded the frigate Thétis and the corvette Espérance. Ostensibly meant to gain audiences with the rulers of China, Vietnam, and other Asian states, the French government also gave Bougainville secret orders to scout British strongholds throughout the Pacific. The voyage made numerous stops over the 27-month voyage, calling at Pondicherry, Manila, Macau, Singapore, Surabaya, Madura, Port Jackson (Sydney), Hobart, Valparaiso, and Rio de Janeiro. However, the expedition is generally seen as a failure both in its overt diplomatic mission and because it did not lead to a realistic French challenge to British influence in the Pacific.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved by Ambroise Tardieu after work done by Edmond Bigot de la Touanne during Bougainville's voyage with the lettering engraved by J. P. Besançon. It was published in 1837 in the atlas that accompanied Bougainville's Journal de la Navigations Autour du Globe de la Frégate la Thétis et de la Corvette l'Espérance Pendant les années 1824, 1825 et 1826. We note two cataloged examples of the separate map at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and the National Library of Australia.