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A late 18th century map of Asia, with notes on the principal states, empires and kingdoms of Asia written in French on the right-hand side.

A page from Abbé Prévost’s ‘Histoire Générale des Voyages’. The top map shows the Bay of Laphao on Timor, while the other drawings are side views (or ‘elevations’) of mountains on the region’s islands to use as landmarks when navigating.

The southern coasts of Sumbawa (‘Coinbava’) and Sumba (‘Sandet’), and most of the coast of New Guinea (‘Nouvelle Guinée’) are represented by a dotted line on this mid-18th century map, indicating that the exact coastlines were unknown at this time.

Unusually, north is located to the right of this early 17th century map of the Maluku Islands, rather than the top. The scale is shown on a stone monument. French text on the reverse describes Java.