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Description

Jacques Cartier's 1534 Route To the Mouth of the St. Lawrence River

An excellent map of the Strait of Belle Isle, between Labrador and Newfoundland, from Bellin's Petit Atlas Maritime. 

The map shows the Strait at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the route by which Jacques Cartier first discovered and explored the region.

In 1534, commissioned by King Francis I of France to explore the northern American lands in search of riches and the rumored Northwest Passage to Asia, Jacques Cartier sailed for America, entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence by the Strait of Belle Isle.

Cartier explored the north coast, then traveled down the west shore of Newfoundland to Cape Anguille, then discovering Magdalen and Prince Edward islands. Cartier would go on to explore Chaleur Bay and claim the Gaspe Peninsula for France.

Following his discovery of the inlet of the St. Lawrence River, he sailed north to Anticosti Island, and then returned to Europe. 

Reference
McCorkle 764.2; Kershaw #374
Jacques Nicolas Bellin Biography

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at only the age of 18, he was appointed Hydrographer to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.

During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Dépôt was the one of the most active centers for the production of sea charts and maps in Europe. Their output included a folio-format sea atlas of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea atlases of the world, including the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame and distinction all over Europe and were republished throughout the eighteenth and even in the nineteenth century.

Bellin also produced smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely-detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps for the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost.

Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, cementing France's leading role in European cartography and geography during this period. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers across the continent.