Central America & Caribbean · 18th century
€ 1 500
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Martinique, an original antique map titled "Carte de l'Isle de la Martinique, Colonie Françoise, l'une des Isles Antilles de l'Amérique," published in Amsterdam by Jean Covens and Corneille Mortier around 1750. The sheet is a copper engraving with hand-colored outlines in pink, yellow and green marking the parish divisions.
The island is drawn in great detail, with hachured hills and forests, rivers, roads and the hundreds of houses and sugar plantations scattered across the lowlands. Fort-Royal and its bay lie on the west coast, and capes, bays and anchorages are named all around the shore, which is edged with soundings and reefs. A framed key in the lower left, headed "Explication des Marques," explains the symbols for plantations, churches, mills and batteries, with scales of French and Dutch leagues beneath it. Two compass roses mark the east and west edges and a third sits at the foot. The long title block credits the survey to the plans of an engineer of the king and to the geographer Guillaume Delisle, and names the Comte de Maurepas, Secretary of State for the Navy.
Martinique was to the French what Barbados and Jamaica were to the English, an immensely profitable sugar island, and the map's plantation detail reflects that.
