Title: Map of the Bay of Benguela and the Cantonbelle River

Description

This map of the Bay of Benguela, on the coast of present-day Angola, is by the French cartographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-72). Trained as a hydrographer, Bellin was attached to the French Marine Office and specialized in producing maritime maps showing coastlines. In 1764, he published Le Petit Atlas Maritime (Small maritime atlas), a work in five volumes containing 581 maps. Bellin’s maps were in the tradition of Sanson and de L’Isle, and placed great emphasis on scientific accuracy rather than on artistic beauty for its own sake.