Carte Hydrographique de la Baye de Cadix

Title

Carte Hydrographique de la Baye de Cadix

Description

Map shows the Bay of Cadiz in Andalusia, Spain.

ca. 1762

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

According to legend, the city was founded by Heracles; the city coat of arms still refers to it today with the inscription "Hercules Fundator Gadium Dominatorque". Gadir became a thriving commercial center under the Phoenicians. With the expansion of Carthaginian rule in the west, Cadiz came to their empire and developed since about 500 BC. BC to the most important trade center of the Carthaginian Atlantic traffic. Cádiz was famous in antiquity for its sanctuary of Melkart / Herakles (on the Isla de Sancti Petri), which Hannibal is said to have visited before his famous journey across the Alps. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Cadiz also lost importance. After the discovery of America, Cadiz became important and flourishing as a major trading hub for Spain's overseas colonies and as a port for the Spanish silver fleet. Columbus also sailed from a small town in the Gulf of Cadiz called Puerto de Santa María on his second trip to the New World in 1493. Wealth made the city the target of barbarian pirates from Algeria, who raided several times in the 16th century but were repelled, and the target of enemy attacks by the English. The latter destroyed the Spanish fleet in port under Francis Drake in April 1587, which meant that the Armada was only able to set sail a year later. In July 1596 the English, under Charles Howard, the Earl of Essex and Walter Raleigh, looted and burned the city itself, cremated the Spanish fleet again and left with great loot. During the Anglo-Spanish War of 1625, the English failed to conquer the city. In the 18th century, the focus of trade in Spanish colonies in America shifted more and more from Seville to Cadiz because the latter city had the better port. Cadiz experienced a new heyday, which also did not stop the earthquake of 1755.