Nicolas Sanson (December 20, 1600 - July 7, 1667) and his descendants were the most influential French cartographers of the 17th century and laid the groundwork for the Golden Age of French Cartography. Sanson was born in Picardy, but his family was of Scottish Descent. He studied with the Jesuit Fathers at Amiens. Sanson started his career as a historian where, it is said, he turned to cartography as a way to illustrate his historical studies. In the course of his research some of his fine maps came to the attention of King Louis XIII who, admiring the quality of his work, appointed Sanson Geographe Ordinaire du Roi. Sanson's duties in this coveted position included advising the king on matters of geography and compiling the royal cartographic archive. In 1644, he partnered with Pierre Mariette, an established print dealer and engraver, whose business savvy and ready capital enabled Sanson to publish an enormous quantity of maps. Sanson's corpus of some three hundred maps initiated the golden age of French mapmaking and he is considered the 'Father of French Cartography.' His work is distinguished as being the first of the 'Positivist Cartographers,' a primarily French school of cartography that valued scientific observation over historical cartographic conventions. The practice result of the is less embellishment of geographical imagery, as was common in the Dutch Golden Age maps of the 16th century, in favor of conventionalized cartographic representational modes. Sanson is most admired for his construction of the magnificent atlas Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde. Sanson's maps of North America, Amerique Septentrionale (1650), Le Nouveau Mexique et La Floride (1656), and La Canada ou Nouvelle France (1656) are exceptionally notable for their important contributions to the cartographic perceptions of the New World. Both maps utilize the discoveries of important French missionaries and are among the first published maps to show the Great Lakes in recognizable form. Sanson was also an active proponent of the insular California theory, wherein it was speculated that California was an island rather than a peninsula. After his death, Sanson's maps were frequently republished, without updates, by his sons, Guillaume (1633 - 1703) and Adrien Sanson (1639 - 1718). Even so, Sanson's true cartographic legacy as a 'positivist geographer' was carried on by others, including Alexis-Hubert Jaillot, Guillaume De L'Isle, Gilles Robert de Vaugondy, and Pierre Duval. More by this mapmaker...

Anthonie de Winter (1653-1707) was a Dutch engraver, etcher, publisher and art dealer. Son of Hendrik de Winter, a seal-engraver and silversmith. Little is known of his education, but it probably involved an apprenticeship to his father prior to his being made a member of the guild of St. Luke in Amsterdam, later joining the guild of booksellers as an engraver. He engraved maps for Nicolas Sanson in 1683, Jacob Lootsman in 1696, and contributed to the Vries Zee Atlas in 1698. He also engraved playing cards with Carel de Waganaer. Learn More...

Simon de Vries (1624 - 1708) was a Dutch poet, writer, historian, bookseller, publisher, and translator. De Vries had a keen eye for his readership's hunger for geographical information, and was pleased to provide it. He has been derided as a hack by later historians, mainly for the common practice of producing copious histories and travel works without having ever visited the places about which he wrote. He produced a number of books for the Utrecht publisher Ribbius, including the text for the 1683 Dutch edition of his atlas, Geographische en historische beschryvingh. Learn More...