Le Pays des Hottentots aux Environs du Cap de Bonne Esperance

This French map is well known for its title that assigns the territory to the ‘Hottentots’; it reflects European understanding of the location of various indigenous groups that lived in the south-western Cape.

   When this map was engraved there were few settlers beyond the Hottentots Holland Mountains but the trekboere were on the move towards the region of the Baye de Mussel (Mossel Bay). Further eastward expansion near the coast was impaired for some time by the deep ravines east of what we now know as George.

Saldanha Bay is grossly distorted as is the annotation of a French Fort at the Bay – it was a pole with a flag that the local settlers promptly took down.

In the subtitle, Bellin acknowledges his reliance on the map of Peter Kolbe - whose posthumous map, in the Dutch edition of his book, was a copy of the map by Francois Valentyn (1727).

  Jacques Bellin was an important maker of charts for the French Dépôt de la Marine. He was educated as an engineer and, as hydrographer at the Dépôt, he produced many important charts. His largest and most comprehensive and popular work was the Petit Atlas Maritime, with 581 charts that cover the coasts and important port cities of the known world. His maps, such as this one, were also included in the Prévost d' Exile's monumental and very popular Histoire Géneral des Voyages. 

This hand-coloured example of the map and its historically important inset is in fine condition.