1682 Tavernier Map of Vietnam and the South China Sea

This is a 1682 map of what is today Vietnam and the South China Sea by the French Huguenot merchant-adventurer Daniel Tavernier. The map covers the coast of Vietnam from southern China to the Mekong Delta. It includes parts of modern-day China, including the Island of Hainan, and the Chinese coast roughly as far north as modern-day Hong Kong and Macau. It names the Island of Shangchuan (上川岛), just south of Hong Kong, where the Navarrese-Basque Roman Catholic missionary, St. Francis Xavier, died.

Tavernier

This map is attributed to Daniel Tavernier, the elusive elder brother of the globe-trotting gem merchant, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. Daniel preceded his brother to the Orient by at least 10 years and, from his base in the Dutch East India port of Batavia, made 11 or 12 voyages to Tonquin or modern-day northern Vietnam. This map was drawn from his experiences. The map features numerous textual annotations that Suarez suggests contain 'both factual and fanciful' information, but we find most to be accurate. Annotations describe the famous mineral hot springs of Hainan, the silting of rivers in Cuadag, Checho, and Sausoo, and the site of missionary Francis Xavier's death on the Chinese island of Shangchuan. They further make note of the border between the kingdoms of Tonquin (north Vietnam) and Chochine (south Vietnam) in the vicinity of modern-day Hue.

Who Owns the South China Sea

Much has been made of this map in relation to modern-day trade disputes in the South China Sea between China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Unfortunately, the contested Spratly or Paracel Islands have not been identified. In fact, although the scope of the map should theoretically cover these islands, the expanse of sea where they lie is instead filled with a compass rose and a decorative vignette of Neptune in his chariot. Nonetheless, this map does cover the South China Sea and it is meaningful that this is presented as a 'Map of Tonquin.' Despite covering parts of China, there is no reference to Chinese sovereignty extending south of Hainan.

Early China Trade

It does, on the other hand, identify the Côn Đảo Archipelago (Condore Islands) as the Tortues, referencing the abundance of turtles found there. Shortly after this map was printed, in 1697, the English East India Company closed their factory in Hanoi. In 1702, the English East India Company founded a settlement on Pulo Condore as an entrepôt for ships plying between India and China. The effort was short lived, and they were expelled by the Vietnamese on March 2, 1705. Tavernier's identification of the islands suggests he recognized their strategic value long before the English established their settlement there.

Publication History and Census

This map was first published as an appendix item to Jean-Baptiste Tavernier's 1676 Les Six Voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier. The present example comes from a 1682 Dutch edition of Tavernier, published by the widow of Johannes van Someren. It was later re-engraved and published in German to accompany the scarce 1684 Johann Chrisoph Wagner's Delineatio Provinciarum Pannoniae et Imperii Turcici in Oriente (Jacob Koppmayer). A Paris edition appears as late as 1702.