Henri Abraham Chatelain; 1684-1743.
Little is known about this Parisian born protestant minister.
A prolific engraver he resided in London (from 1710), then
in The Hague (from 1721) and finally in Amsterdam from 1728.
His only call to fame is for his contribution to the encyclopedic
"Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction à l'Histoire,
à la Chronologie, et à la Géographie...
", with text by Nicholas Gueudeville. It was issued several
times between 1705 and 1721, and then again between 1732 and
Most of the maps he prepared for this monumental seven volume
work were derived from De L'isle, sometimes seemingly from
deWit. They are characteristically replete with detailed annotations
and explanations, sometimes to the point of showing much more
text than image.
Nouvelle carte de l'Amerique septentrionale dressee sur
This large map (23 ½" X 18 5/8") is a direct derivative
of the seminal 1700 Guillaume deL'Isle "L'Amerique Septentrionale".
Its delination of the continent is sensibly the same.
But contrarily to De l'Isle, Chatelain has typically added
(in the encyclopedic fashion of the time) a mass of written
information for the education of the readers.
This map was produced in 1713, and re-edited in 1739 (present
example). This late re-print makes no allowance for the cartographic
progress made since 1700. In particular note the shape of
the Florida peninsula, still very much of the 1657 Sanson
school (and ignoring the newer coast lines proposed by the
same De L'Isle first in 1703, and then in 1718).
Also note the artistic imprecision when it comes to California.
Since about 1630, California was thought to be an island,
hence the standard insular representation for most of the
XVII century. In 1702 the Jesuit father Eusebio Kino demonstrated
that Baja is a peninsula, not an island. But it took some
time for the cartographers to reflect this change...Chatelain
does not take clear position: the coast line is interrupted
twice, and the reader can make it the way he prefers!
Finally note also in northern California the "New Albion",
a remnant of colonial designs the British had on this area
after Francis Drake's landfall during his 1577-1580 trip around
No text on verso.