Search

Colonial possessions of the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as lands of ‘indigenous princes’ are marked with coloured borders on this map of maritime Southeast Asia. Hot springs and mineral water springs in Java are also listed.

In the 18th century, European maps tended to use their own country’s meridian, so on this French map of Southeast Asia longitude is measured from the Paris Meridian. Eleven different scales are also shown.

The islands on this map were central to conflicts between the European powers over the valuable spice trade of the Maluku or ‘Spice’ Islands. A sea battle between European ships is shown, and there are military forts marked in red on the islands.