Title: Geographical Game of the French Republic

Description

J.N. Mauborgne, a former professor of geography in Paris, created this “geographical game of the French Republic” in honor of the government of the National Convention during the French Revolution. Mauborgne’s game involves traveling around republican France, which was divided into 83 “departments,” the new unit of territorial administration that the Revolution introduced to replace the much larger historical provinces. Each space on the map shows a different department with its departmental capital, or chef-lieu. Players move counter-clockwise about the board from department to department, ending on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, which is draped in the words “liberty” and “equality” and crowned by a Phrygian bonnet dangling on a pike. The game board also features, in the upper left hand corner, an inset map of France’s Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue and numerous Gallic roosters, which the Revolution transformed into a popular national image.