Carte des isles Maldives

Title

Carte des isles Maldives

Description

Map shows the island of the Maledives.

dated 1750

Artist

Bellin (1703-1772)

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703 Paris -1772 Versailles) was a French cartographer, engineer-geographer, marine hydrographer. As a contributor to the Encyclopédie, he wrote more than a thousand articles on maritime topics. As a cartographer, Bellin distinguished himself primarily in the field of sea cartography. From 1721 he worked for the Dépot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine, from 1741 until his death as an engineer-hydrograph of the Navy. In 1753 his atlas Neptune français, which covered all the coasts of France, was published, and in 1756 the hydrography françoise covering all seas of the earth. In 1764 the five-volume Petit Atlas maritime was published, which Bellin prepared on the orders of the Minister of the Navy, Choiseul. In addition, he wrote a number of geographical works and with Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre la geographie (1769) a geographic textbook for teaching. His maps illustrated, among other things, Bougainville's work Voyage autour du monde, published in 1771. As a co-author of the Encyclopédie edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, Bellin wrote more than a thousand articles in the field of shipping and navy.

Historical Description

One theory is that the settlement of the Maldives began in the 5th century BC, when Buddhist fishermen from India and the island of Ceylon settled on the islands. The Maldives were ruled by both sultans and a variety of female sultans. The most famous of these was Sultana Khadeeja Rehendi Kabaidhi Kilege, who ruled the country for 35 years in the 14th century. Even today, women play a major role in public life in the Maldives. In 558, the Portuguese occupied the islands, but they were driven out again in an eight-year guerrilla war by Muhammad Thakurufaan in 1573. It was not until the 17th century that a European country succeeded in subduing the islands: The Netherlands made a protectorate out of the Maldivian Sultanate after also occupying Ceylon. When the Netherlands lost Ceylon to the British in 1796, the Maldives also came under British influence, so that they were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965.